Murray rode on the back of a giant eagle, its feathers shimmering with a rainbow-like hue, as it soared through the skies above the Titan Islands. The fierce wind howled, tossing Murray's black hair wildly.
Under the rapid flight of the giant eagle, the scenery seemed to blur past Murray's eyes, yet even at this near-sonic speed, he could still make out his surroundings clearly. His dynamic vision now reached a monstrous level.
Soon, Murray and the giant eagle arrived at the edge of the Titan Islands. Although still far away, he could see the luxurious and radiant crystal castle glistening in the sunlight.
As Murray approached, golden bipedal dragons surrounded him from all directions, seemingly ready to attack and drive him away from the airspace of the crystal castle.
"Screech!" The giant eagle let out an angry cry, its eyes blazing with fury. Despite their power, the mutated bipedal dragons, infused with the power of the Golden Dragon Mother, were still no match for the giant eagle.
The giant eagle, with a wingspan of up to eighty meters and reaching the fifth level of the gold tier, regarded these dragons, touched by the power of the Golden Dragon Mother, as nothing more than food.
"Don't attack, these are my mother's associates," Murray said, soothing the giant eagle as he stroked its feathers. He knew the giant eagle could understand him; after all, apart from their inability to speak, creatures at the gold tier had intelligence similar to humans.
Because of this, Murray was able to sit atop the proud bird's back, as the giant eagle had recently experienced the power of the legendary Titans, which could easily tear it apart. This fear of Anseol allowed Murray, who shared a similar aura, to easily ride it.
"Back off!" After calming the giant eagle, Murray released his own aura and shouted at the surrounding golden dragons, a group of dragons merely affected by the power of the Golden Dragon Mother, Atreus.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"...
Murray's mixed bloodline power, infused with the blood of the Titans, spread out, though faint, causing no suppressive effect but still affecting the golden dragon group, making them feel the inherent pressure from their bloodline.
The dragon group emitted low growls of fear, their eyes showing awe as they quickly dispersed, changing their formation from encirclement to guard.
"You all back off!" At the outer edge of the dragon group, a frantic voice sounded as a sturdy golden dragon, over twenty meters long and several times larger than an ordinary dragon, appeared. It used both wings and claws to forcefully push aside the dragons blocking its way.
Then, the golden dragon leader, Barton, who had taught Murray to fly and left a deep impression on him, came forward: "Young Master Murray, welcome back!"
"Haha!" Murray laughed and pointed to the dragons around him. "This doesn't seem like a welcome back."
"Um, Young Master Murray, please forgive us," the dragon leader Barton grinned awkwardly. "These dragons are not the same batch I used to command. They grew up in the semi-plane opened by Lady Atreus and have not seen you or remembered your aura."
"Oh!" Murray nodded, understanding. Then he rode the giant eagle, accompanied by the dragon leader, and landed on the platform of the crystal castle.
"It's been a while, and the island has completely changed. If it weren't for this castle, I wouldn't recognize it," Murray said, looking down at the islands below, now almost unrecognizable, with many of the giants' structures in ruins.
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In just a few months, the buildings left by the giants had become desolate and broken. Many had turned into ruins, and even the training ground specially built for Murray was now pockmarked.
The dragon beasts that emerged from Lady Atreus's semi-plane had taken up residence in many of the giants' buildings. Many of the giant dragon beasts, out of curiosity, wandered in and, with their powerful bodies, created paths through the buildings.
Because of Murray's birth, many giants had come to the island to live, but their buildings were destroyed by these golden dragon beasts, leaving no trace of civilization except for Lady Atreus's crystal castle. The entire island, apart from the crystal castle, was now a wilderness.
"Young Master Murray, welcome back." As Murray landed on the castle platform with the giant eagle, he saw two red dragons with crimson scales sleeping on one of the castle towers.
Not far away, the golden-haired head maid Sophia arrived with a group of maids and respectfully greeted him.
"Sophia, you haven't changed a bit after all these years. That's good," Murray said with a smile when he saw the familiar golden-haired girl. "Is my mother in the castle now?"
"Lady Atreus has gone out, Young Master Murray."
"Out punishing evil and promoting goodness again?" Murray rubbed his chin, pondering. He felt that the reason Lady Atreus was so just and noble was not only because of the nature of the Golden Dragon but also because of the greed of the dragons. After all, powerful evil was not something they wanted to deal with. In Elerasia, punishing evil and promoting goodness was also a way to become wealthy and prosperous.
"Next time, I'll go and try to punish evil and promote goodness too!" Murray muttered. Then he turned to Sophia. "This time I came to borrow some books from the library and will leave soon."
"All right, Young Master Murray, you can take all the books you want to read. Lady Atreus ordered it," replied Sophia, the head maid. "Please follow me."
Seeing Sophia leading the way, Murray chuckled. "Sophia, I remember the way to the library. You can do whatever you need to do. I know you're busy."
"In that case, please allow me to excuse myself. Let this group of maids accompany you," Sophia said straightforwardly, knowing she had a lot to manage among the over a thousand maids in the castle.
Then Murray left the giant eagle on the castle platform and entered the castle with a group of maids, heading to the library to find the books he wanted about spell formations.
"Why are there so many?" Murray looked at the fifteen-meter-high bookshelf in front of him, filled with books in various languages, feeling a bit dizzy.
"Young Master Murray, if you need books related to spell formations, all the books on this shelf area are about that. The bookshelf in front of you is just one of them," a dragon maid behind Murray gestured, pointing to rows of bookshelves.
"This... is too much," Murray said helplessly, looking at the bookshelf in this area. The shelves in Lady Atreus's library contained at least eight thousand books, and there were tens of thousands of books in total in the dragon maid's gesture.
"I've always wanted to ask, where did my mother get so many books?" Murray looked at the dragon maid. Describing Lady Atreus's collection as vast as the sea was the most appropriate; it was simply incredible.
"Um, Young Master Murray, I'm just a humble maid, and I'm not quite sure about that," the dragon maid in front of Murray said apologetically. Then she looked around discreetly and found that the other dragon maids were counting the number of books for Murray, paying no attention to this side.
Then the dragon maid lowered her voice. "But I've heard some rumors. Most of Lady Atreus's books were accumulated quickly after she became a legend. It's said that it was done through plundering with force. Whether it's true or not, I don't know."
"I see." Murray nodded, believing in the rumors. He felt that this was the truth, or at least part of it.
In this world, "knowledge is power" was also true in Elerasia. At least, in the eyes of the Golden Dragons, rare knowledge was equally valuable wealth.
...Finally, Murray left the crystal castle with a space ring filled with books, totaling over thirteen thousand. These books contained basic knowledge about spell formations and didn't delve into too deep content, suitable for beginners like him, albeit a bit overwhelming in quantity.
"Hmm, why did you all follow?" Murray arrived back on the castle platform with the space ring, feeling puzzled as he saw the five storm giants and their mount giant eagles.
"Your Highness," the five storm giants saluted, and one of them spoke up, "We are your followers and it's our duty to protect you. Please notify us next time you go out."
"Okay!" Murray nodded, agreeing that there was no need to refuse such a thing. Having a bunch of giants following him each time he went out was quite impressive.
"Screech!" "Screech!" "Screech!"...
The six giant eagles spread their wings and took off. In just a few minutes, Murray and the five storm giants returned to the Five-Colored Dragon Castle on Taiji Island. As Murray jumped down from the giant eagle, a slightly embarrassed storm giant approached him.
"Your Highness!" The pale-skinned giant saluted Murray and then looked at the giant eagle behind him with a somewhat hesitant expression.
"Grr!" At that moment, the giant eagle behind Murray lowered its head and affectionately rubbed against the giant, who stood eighteen meters tall.
"This is your companion," Murray understood what was going on and praised, "Your giant eagle's speed is quite good."
"Your Highness!" Hearing Murray's praise, the storm giant's face became even more conflicted, looking pained. "If you wish, I can..."
"No, I don't want it." Murray interrupted before the storm giant could finish. "I just borrowed it for now to save time. In the future, my flying speed won't be much slower than a giant eagle's. I'm looking for a mount that can at least match my legendary strength. Otherwise, I won't be interested!"
After saying this, Murray left with a smile, leaving the storm giant, who was excitedly hugging the giant eagle, behind.
"Giant eagles can reach the fifth level of gold tier when they reach adulthood," Murray recalled the relevant information. "They're good for riding now, but later on, they won't be able to keep up with me. I need a mount that can match my pace in the future, at least possessing legendary strength like mine. Otherwise, I won't be interested!"