Chapter 181 - 163: Extreme Breakthrough Card
After reaching an agreement, Zou Jianghe quickly sent his people over to take away all the adult Single Claw Dragons. They also took three juveniles to test them out.
Juveniles are easier to tame than adults, but they’re too weak in a fight, which might mean there’ll be no buyers. They take time to grow, so there’s no guaranteed market.
Qin Ziwen told his team about the deal. "Once they’re tamed, you can apply to adopt one and take it home to bond with it. These tamed adult Single Claw Dragons will be considered our group’s collective assets."
"You’re awesome, Captain!" Yuan Ming cheered. "Haha, does this mean I can ride a dinosaur now?"
Cao Biansheng smirked. "With your weight? Forget it. I’m afraid you’d sit on it and crush it to death."
Yuan Ming flew into a rage. "I’m down to one-seventy now! This is called being stout! In ancient times, this was the build of a great general."
Cao Biansheng went, "TSK TSK. But the poor Single Claw Dragon only weighs ten pounds, and you want it to carry a weight so disproportionate to its size."
"The Single Claw Dragons really are too small to be mounts," Wang Yun said regretfully. "To carry a person at a run, a creature would need to weigh at least two or three hundred kilograms."
"If we ran into a two- or three-hundred-kilogram carnivorous dinosaur in the wild," Yuan Dajun chuckled, "it’d be more likely to be riding me!"
"Do any of you want to adopt these little Single Claw Dragons?"
Everyone shook their heads. The little dinosaurs were ill-tempered and screeched nonstop.
On the way back, they’d squawked incessantly like a flock of ducks. And on top of that, they only ate meat.
’Taking one home would be a huge pain in the neck. Dinosaurs are the kind of thing that’s more fun when someone else is raising them.’
"Alright." Qin Ziwen shut the remaining ten juvenile Single Claw Dragons into an animal pen.
The juveniles were much smaller than the adults, and they didn’t startle the rabbits and voles nearly as much.
The little dinosaurs, which had been somewhat restless, calmed down considerably once they were in the pen.
Still, they were curious about their neighbors, stealing glances from time to time.
After leaving the pens, Qin Ziwen found Du Yu already waiting on the sparring platform in the Martial Arts Arena.
"Sir, let’s begin."
"Hold on," Qin Ziwen said. He then took out an Animal Enhancement Card and chose to use it on the Beaked Eagle.
The Beaked Eagle was enveloped in light.
Du Yu’s expression remained unchanged.
Even before being enhanced, the Beaked Eagle had already been considered a top-tier raptor.
’A giant eagle with a wingspan of over five meters is already intimidating enough, and he’s enhancing it even further?’
Wang Yun stopped in his tracks. He was also curious. As the Beaked Eagle’s body continued to expand, he wondered if it would grow to the size of an Argentine Giant Eagle or a Quetzalcoatlus.
The light continued to expand, only slowing when the wingspan approached eight meters.
A flicker of regret crossed Wang Yun’s eyes. ’Looks like it’s the size of an Argentine Giant Eagle, then. It didn’t manage to break the ten-meter wingspan threshold.’
When the light faded, the Beaked Eagle’s form, now with an eight-meter wingspan, had become much more streamlined compared to before.
Compared to before, its head seemed a bit "smaller."
When Qin Ziwen went closer to compare, he found that the Beaked Eagle’s head hadn’t shrunk at all. On the contrary, it was slightly larger than before; the wider wings simply made it look smaller by comparison.
In addition, its chest had grown deeper and its claws shorter... The Beaked Eagle lifted its right foot, gave it a slight shake, and five matte-black, scimitar-like talons shot out.
With another shake, the sharp talons retracted, leaving only the tips exposed.
’It looks like it also evolved the ability to retract its talons, similar to a feline.’
"Let’s go!"
Du Yu said calmly, "Sir, a bigger body isn’t always an advantage, especially indoors."
Sure enough, in the sparring match that followed, the Home’s five-meter height ceiling severely restricted the Beaked Eagle’s movements. On the platform, not only was it unable to leverage its aerial superiority, it became a sitting duck.
After being jabbed several times, the Beaked Eagle grew increasingly agitated. Finally, it simply tanked a blow from the Long Spear and shoved Du Yu right off the platform.
Once he was off the platform, Du Yu didn’t attack again, since his injuries couldn’t be healed.
But Qin Ziwen also identified some problems from the fight. Although the Beaked Eagle’s eight-meter wingspan looked intimidating, its weight wasn’t actually that high—less than 330 pounds.
Therefore, it was impossible for it to crush enemies with sheer tonnage. Its true advantage lay in being an aerial unit.
By leveraging its ability to fly, it could perform reconnaissance, harass enemies, and overpower prey smaller than itself.
Qin Ziwen took it to an open area of the Gobi Desert outside the Gated Community.
He wanted to see if the Beaked Eagle could carry him in flight.
First, he tried riding on the Beaked Eagle’s back.
Qin Ziwen climbed onto the Beaked Eagle’s back. The eagle shot a smug glance at the Mongolian Horse nearby.
Then, its wings began to beat. Qin Ziwen felt a lifting force beneath him, trying to push him upward.
But the lifting force quickly vanished.
The Beaked Eagle paused for two seconds.
Then, with him on its back, the Beaked Eagle ran forward a few steps, flapping its wings.
’We’re off the ground!’
Qin Ziwen felt a sense of weightlessness as the surrounding scenery dropped away below him.
Joy flashed in his eyes.
But after gliding for just over ten meters, the Beaked Eagle suddenly lost control and veered toward the ground ahead of them.
Qin Ziwen managed to backflip off just in time. Luckily, they weren’t very high, only about three or four meters.
Freed from the weight on its back, the Beaked Eagle flapped its wings and adjusted its posture just in time to avoid crashing. It skimmed the ground for a moment before soaring into the sky.
’No, that’s still too much of a strain for it,’ Qin Ziwen thought with a frown. He could feel that the most difficult part was the initial takeoff. Even after getting airborne, it wasn’t easy for the Beaked Eagle to adjust its altitude.
’What if I fell from a high place while grabbing its talons? Could I use it like a paraglider to glide down to the ground?’
The thought flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
’No need to take that risk.’
’Besides, it’s not as if the Beaked Eagle can’t be improved further.’
He took out the Extreme Breakthrough Card, a Card he had acquired during yesterday’s settlement.
Extreme Breakthrough Card: Can be used on any ordinary individual who has reached their limit. After use, three challenge missions of random difficulty will appear. Complete the extreme challenge to break through the individual’s limit!
In the Home, the only ones who could use this Card were himself, Du Yu, and the Beaked Eagle.
’In terms of overall aptitude, Du Yu would probably have the highest chance of success.’
’But giving it to the Beaked Eagle wouldn’t be a bad idea either. After all, the Beaked Eagle is an animal, not a person. It’s difficult for it to improve by learning new techniques, so it has more or less reached its limit.’
’As for myself... Although the Card didn’t explicitly state the benefits of completing the three challenge missions of random difficulty, since the difficulties were different, the rewards were certain to be different as well.’
’If I was able to get one Breakthrough Card, I’ll have a chance to get another. I should let Du Yu and the others try it out first, to get a feel for the difficulty of the missions.’
After a moment of thought, Qin Ziwen decided to ask the Beaked Eagle and Du Yu for their opinions.
"Break my limits... I’ll go first!" Du Yu said decisively. "Humans are different from animals. The Beaked Eagle’s experience might not be a useful reference for you, Sir. I’ve already reached my limit and am at my peak. From this point on, I can only decline, so I might as well try to advance now."
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