’What a waste. All that experience, gone.’
The Wyrm’s luck had been truly abysmal. Swept into a cluster of raging tornadoes, it was hurled around like a leaf, spun relentlessly without the slightest chance to steady itself. It shrieked in fury over and over, but no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t regain control of its body, let alone launch an attack.
What puzzled Marcus was that the tornadoes hadn’t torn it apart. This storm barrier was infamous for shredding even Divine Beasts, yet the Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm was only a Mythic Beast. By all logic, it should have been ripped to pieces the moment it was caught inside.
There could only be one explanation. The Wyrm had truly adapted to the Storm Seal. It still couldn’t resist the force of the tornadoes, but its body had evolved enough to survive them.
Marcus couldn’t help wondering how it had managed that. For a brief moment, he even caught himself imagining what it would be like if he could gain the same resistance. If he could move through the Storm Seal as freely as the Wyrm, every hidden treasure buried within those deadly waters would eventually become his.
What Marcus didn’t know was that the Wyrm had given birth only a day earlier. Its newborn was far too weak to survive the violent storms, so it had been hidden in the calm waters beneath the sea route, precisely where Lily’s Dream Angler had caught the juvenile.
Giving birth had also weakened the Wyrm considerably, leaving it with barely eighty percent of its usual strength. That was why the tornadoes had battered it so helplessly. Under normal circumstances, it would have broken free long ago and chased them down.
The monsters lurking around the Storm Seal were anything but ordinary. Marcus had survived today because several pieces of luck had happened to fall into place at once.
He had no intention of testing his fortune any further. Pushing the ship to its maximum speed, he urged it forward without looking back.
Several minutes later, the world suddenly opened before them. The black storm wall disappeared behind them, replaced by endless blue sea stretching beneath a bright sky. A cool ocean breeze washed over the deck, carrying away the suffocating tension that had weighed on everyone since entering the Storm Seal. They had finally reached the waters surrounding Twin Wing Island.
The ship continued across the calm sea for a while before the familiar system notification sounded.
Ding!
[Monarch Squad has escaped the Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm’s pursuit. Combat ends. Because Lily of the Wind survived, the juvenile Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm is now her pet. Squad reward: 30,000 experience.]
A second notification followed immediately:
Ding!
[Player Stonehaven, your Monarch Squad has leveled up to Level 3. You can now accept Level 3 mercenary missions.]
Marcus checked the squad interface. Level 3. Eighty-three percent toward Level 4.
The reward wasn’t bad, but after nearly being hunted down by a high-tier Mythic Beast, thirty thousand experience somehow felt underwhelming.
Even so, everyone instinctively turned to look back toward the wall of storms. There was still no sign of the Wyrm; it was probably being tossed around inside the tornadoes even now.
Only after confirming that nothing was chasing them did the girls finally let out the breaths they’d been holding. Their tense expressions melted into relieved smiles before they eagerly gathered around Lily to admire their newest companion.
A Mythic Beast.
—
Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm
Rank: Mythic Beast
The Wyrm had originally been a Level 80 Golden Lightning Eel King that lived deep beneath the ocean. Eight hundred years ago, it had accidentally wandered into the Storm Seal and discovered that the endless lightning there accelerated its strength. Over centuries of adapting to that environment, it grew steadily stronger.
Eventually, it discovered the Essence Core of a fallen Level 80 Twin-Winged Stingray, a remnant of the ancient war. After devouring it, the eel evolved into a low-tier Mythic Beast known as the Twin-Winged Lightning Eel.
Three hundred years later, it encountered another priceless treasure: the Essence Core of a Mythic Beast called the Thunder Pattern Wyrm. After absorbing that core and enduring centuries of refinement beneath the storm’s endless lightning, it completed a second evolution, becoming the high-tier Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm. During those same centuries, it had also conceived a single offspring, which had finally hatched only yesterday.
Level: 0
Health: 1000
Mana: 800
Attack: 800
Defense: 800
Talents:
Thunder-Water Fusion (Passive): Possesses complete mastery over lightning and water. While submerged, its lightning blends seamlessly with surrounding currents, greatly increasing its destructive power.
Lightning Devour (Passive): Whenever struck by lightning, there is a 50% chance the damage is converted into health instead.
Wyrm’s Evolution (Passive Trigger): Having spent three hundred years developing inside its mother’s body, the juvenile inherited and absorbed much of the energy accumulated from her previous evolutions. It possesses the potential to evolve or mutate again in the future.
Massive Frame (Passive): Though not the fastest flying creature, its enormous body is capable of carrying multiple riders once it reaches Level 30.
Skills:
Lightning Aegis (Active): Surrounds itself with crackling lightning, reducing incoming damage by 10% while reflecting 10% of the damage back to attackers.
Thunder Flash (Active): Fires a bolt of lightning at enemies within a ten-meter aerial range.
Water-Lightning Surge (Active): While underwater, releases electricity throughout a ten-meter radius, damaging every nearby enemy.
—
Even among Mythic Beasts, its attributes were exceptional, rivaling those of weaker Divine Beasts. But impressive as those stats were, Marcus’s attention remained fixed on a single talent: Wyrm’s Evolution. If that talent activated successfully one day, it might truly evolve into a Divine Dragon.
Marcus quietly repeated the words to himself: ’Wyrm’s Evolution...’
No wonder the little creature looked so unusual. Its head already resembled that of a dragon, while its long body still retained traces of an eel and serpent. Parts of its shell-like scales hinted at turtle ancestry, and the broad wings growing from its sides clearly came from the Twin-Winged Stingray it had once evolved from. Its appearance wasn’t strange because nature had made a mistake. It was the living result of two successful evolutions layered on top of one another.
The more Marcus thought about it, the more incredible that ability seemed. For most monsters, evolving even once was an enormous gamble. Many died during the process, while countless others never found the opportunity at all. This Wyrm had succeeded twice. Not only had it survived both evolutions, but each one had made it dramatically stronger. Its luck really was unbelievable.
The juvenile had already begun adapting to its new surroundings. Tiny arcs of lightning danced around its wings as it flapped clumsily through the air, wobbling here and there before gradually finding its balance. Once it managed a stable rhythm, it happily circled around its new owner with cheerful little cries.
Since Lily already had the Darkfire Phoenix Marcus had given her, she smiled and transferred ownership of the little Wyrm to Anya, who was still the only one in the group without a pet.
Marcus opened the Pet Leaderboard. As expected, the Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm had immediately climbed to second place, sitting just below Jade’s Twin-Winged Water Demon Cat.
Looking at the tiny creature, barely the size of a house cat, it was difficult to imagine that one day it would grow into a colossal beast more than twice the length of their ship. Once its Massive Frame talent unlocked, it would even be capable of carrying multiple people through the skies. That alone made raising it worthwhile.
"Marcus! An island!" After another two hours of sailing, FreshwindElara suddenly pointed toward the horizon, her excited voice drawing everyone’s attention.
A dark silhouette had finally appeared in the distance: land. They had reached the Twin Wing Island archipelago.
Marcus followed her gaze and nodded. "That’s Stoneback Island. It’s only about the size of three football fields, and it’s the northeasternmost island in the archipelago. Most of the caves there are occupied by Level 70 Stoneback Frogs."
He continued while comparing the scenery to the notes Silas had left behind.
"Dragon’s Roar Isle, where the main peak of Twin Wing Island stands, is still more than a hundred kilometers away. A thousand years ago, when the Storm Seal expanded, it reached this area before an enormous whirlwind suddenly broke the storm apart. That’s why the rest of the archipelago escaped becoming part of the Storm Seal."
Even from here, they were still nearly two hundred kilometers from the heart of Twin Wing Island. The entire archipelago was far larger than it had appeared on the map.
Marcus narrowed his eyes toward the distant sea. "You can’t see the main peak from sea level yet. Once you’re high enough, though, you’ll be able to see islands stretching across the horizon."
Amber and Jade immediately summoned Amethyst before taking to the sky. After climbing several hundred meters, Amber looked into the distance and waved excitedly. "I see them! There are several islands, and some of them are enormous!"
Lily summoned the Harmony Cloud so the rest of the group could rise above the ocean as well. From the air, the archipelago unfolded beneath them like a hidden world, countless islands scattered across the sea in every direction. It was a breathtaking sight, unlike anywhere they had visited before.
Admiring the scenery was one thing; traveling through it safely was another. Twin Wing Island consisted of one hundred and fifty-six islands, some towering above the water while others remained completely submerged beneath the sea. One hundred and eleven of them were inhabited by monsters of Level 50 or higher.
Fortunately, Silas had explored every single one. The map he left behind contained detailed notes about monster habitats, safe routes, and hidden landmarks, saving them from an enormous amount of trial and error.
Their first destination was Camel Island, a barren rocky island whose shape resembled a camel lying on the ground. It was home to flocks of Level 80 Bald Demon Eagles. However, Marcus wasn’t interested in the island itself. According to Silas’s notes, roughly a hundred meters off Camel Island’s eastern side was where he had once encountered a group of white sea lions. Curious, he had followed them, only to discover that they were gathering around a submerged island over a thousand meters beneath the sea. That hidden place was known as the Lion’s Tomb.
Marcus compared the map with the surrounding waters before slowing to a stop. "This should be the place."
The sea here was calm and unusually dark. Sunlight faded rapidly beneath the surface, and visibility dropped sharply after only a couple hundred meters. After carefully checking the landmarks one last time, Marcus nodded in satisfaction. Following Silas’s map through the Storm Seal had proven completely reliable; he had no reason to doubt it now.
The group stored the ship, slipped silently into the water, and began swimming downward, carefully following the route marked toward the Lion’s Tomb.
The underwater path twisted through submerged rock formations and curved around massive underwater islands. More than once, Marcus realized they were weaving through a natural maze rather than taking a direct route. After nearly half an hour of swimming, they began their true descent.
Three hundred meters. Five hundred. Only then did Marcus fully appreciate just how valuable Fish-Walk really was.
Moving through the water felt as effortless as walking on land. Every current seemed to guide rather than hinder him, and his vision remained remarkably clear despite the growing darkness.
The others weren’t nearly as comfortable. Although they could breathe and swim without difficulty, the pressure of the deep sea gradually weakened them. Every additional five hundred meters reduced their overall attributes by one percent, while the fading light steadily shortened their field of vision. Even Amber, whose eyesight far surpassed everyone else’s, could no longer see as clearly as Marcus.
By the time they reached one thousand meters below the surface, their overall attributes had already fallen by six percent after factoring in both depth and the prolonged dive. Items known as Deep Sea Cores, sold in Blue Sea Citadel, could temporarily offset those penalties during long underwater expeditions. However, they only became effective after spending ten continuous hours underwater and required another ten hours before they could be used again. For ordinary adventurers, extended deep-sea exploration was a constant battle against weakening bodies.
Marcus barely felt the effects at all. Fish-Walk gave him an overwhelming advantage in underwater missions, allowing him to operate almost as naturally beneath the sea as he could on dry land.
Then, through the darkness ahead, something enormous slowly came into view. Roughly five hundred meters away, a massive mountain-like silhouette rose silently from the ocean floor.