Beastmaster of the Ages

”Not yet. Did you think they’d be so easy to find? Celestialwings like those have been lost to time. We haven’t seen them in years,” Lady Floral said.

”Only wing bones from Longevity Lifewings can improve my Evernight Skywings. It’s all the seniors’ fault for killing off all the bearers of the Longevity Lifewings. Even if we’d completely dominated them, why’d we have to wipe them out? Now my Evernight Skywings will be hard-pressed to reach their highest potential....”

”That’s not what happened. Harvesting wing bones is a really painful process. Knowing what they were fated to endure, many awakeners of Longevity Lifewings decided not to show their faces at all in fear of being captured. And even if they were captured, they’d choose to end their own lives. It’s no surprise that they went extinct over time. We can only hope that the Kunlan Realm gives birth to new Longevity Lifewings. All we have to do is catch the one that gets them and use them as a source to breed more bearers of Longevity Lifewings for more wing bones to harvest.”

”You make them sound like livestock, Mother.”

”It can’t be helped. We royals have to defend Primary, so we need to be strong. While Longevity Lifewings are celestialwings, they only make the lives of their bearers slightly longer without doing much else. As such, their kind is obligated to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause. Too bad the bearers all chose to escape instead. They’re all cowards,” Lady Floral said with full mockery.

”Even if that’s the case, we can hardly be optimistic about this. The Kunlan Realm hasn’t produced Longevity Lifewings for tens of thousands of years. Every time we royals come here to wait, it’s just a waste of time. If we hadn’t forced all of them to run or die off, we wouldn’t be faced with such a dilemma. Grandfather is already getting old, and both Father and I lack Longevity Lifewings. If we don’t have someone capable of taking up the role of sovereign before the Violetglorians distance themselves from us, then only the seniors’ lack of foresight is to blame.”

”Sigh, it couldn’t be helped,” said Lady Floral. Right as she said that, the surface of the lake suddenly changed. The starlight coming from it intensified tenfold, causing the crowd to stare in awe, primalwingers and Violetglorians alike. Tianming had also just heard a surprising revelation: every human was a potential candidate for primalwings. That was why Violetglorians bothered coming to try their luck. A totemancer or beastmaster with primalwings would have far more options in combat, though the chances of that happening were ten times more unlikely compared to those of primalwingers. Even so, it was enough for some excitement to build.

”Whoa!” Everyone let out surprised gasps as the ownerless primalwings came flying out. If the appearance of the dragon of origin was a somber and serious event, the appearance of these primalwings was beautiful and flashy. Wings of all shapes, sizes, and colors began emerging like countless butterflies, lighting up the area. The batch of wings that came out first were probably weaker ones on the yellowwings level, a grade above the normalwings that most primalwingers there had. Once those yellowwings fused with the wing bones of the chosen, they evolved and improved in many measures. The entire choosing process dazzled Tianming’s eyes.

”What kind of places are the Primodragon Cave and Kunlan Realm? It’s producing a kind of talent that no beastmaster and totemancer had!”

If the dragons of origin had come from the same place, too, Tianming believed that totems, lifebound beasts, and primalwings probably came from the very same place or source as well. Could the Kunlan Realm and Primodragon Cave be connected? Or were there even higher dimensional spaces that one couldn’t return from?

”How pretty....” Feiling was basking in the sight of beautiful butterfly-like wings flapping past her, though she was a little unhappy that she wasn’t picked. Then again, she wasn’t a primalwinger, so they wouldn’t be that useful to her, either. She was only interested in them as a fashion statement.

”Ling’er, those chicken wings of yours you used at the Divine Moon Realm look much better,” Ying Huo said, recalling the feathers that had instantly swallowed Sovereign Xi.

”Those are feathered wings, not chicken wings,” she snapped. Then she stretched out her hand to touch the primalwings that didn’t pick her. Everyone that the wings landed on were mostly young and incredibly excited to be picked.

A large number of them kept coming out of the Kunlan Realm; it was a miracle of nature. Tianming thanked the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb for a chance to see something like this.

After the yellowwings came the arcanewings. They were bigger, brighter, and more enchanting. Some looked like butterflies, others like birds, and there were even some that were shaped like metal. In time, terrestialwings also showed up, but fewer than a thousand of them. Everyone widened their eyes in anticipation, hoping their turn would come, but most would end up disappointed. It was practically a lottery with really low odds. If they weren’t lucky enough to get the consolation prize, who’s to say that they would get the top prizes? There were billions of people here, after all, and far from enough terrestialwings, which mostly went to talented youngsters. Those who got them went absolutely wild and celebrated with their friends and family. In time, the best academies would come recruit them; their futures were nothing short of bright.

The receivers of the terrestialwings all became centers of attention. They might be the founders of brand new clans in the future. After their turn was the moment of truth. The only question on everyone’s mind was whether or not celestialwings would be born this time. The surface of the lake shimmered, then stopped. Anything could happen now. People kept their eyes glued to its surface.