Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the black egg. He could feel the living being inside, the strong throb of its heartbeat pulsating through the shell and the powerful energy contained within.

Sure enough, the items Breakspear brought out would never disappoint!

Among flying mounts, bird types were the most common and usually flew at the bottom of the totem pole. Only a few could be considered pretty decent such as Thunderbirds and Phoenixes. Some flying mounts were also quite odd and didn’t really fit into any category like Manticores and Wind Serpents. However, dragons were undoubtedly the rarest. Among them, Golden Dragons were fairly ordinary. Even after consuming an Evolution Crystal, a Golden Dragon could at best reach the upper middle tier. On the other hand, Darkwing Dragons were at the very top of the pecking order.

Some of the top dragons were the Divine Dragons, Onyx Dragons, and Runic Dragons. The Darkwing Dragon was included in that list as well.

A peak existence like Great General Breakspear wanted to hatch and raise this egg to be his personal mount. One could only imagine how precious it was!

This was the reward for killing Legendary Necromancer Nadago. Nie Yan naturally didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt accepting the egg.

Nie Yan carefully took the Darkwing Dragon Egg into his palms.

“I’m not sure when it’ll hatch, but I have a feeling it won’t be long. I hope it can accompany you on your path to glory,” Breakspear said.

Nie Yan could faintly see the outline of the baby Darkwing Dragon through the shell. The radiance blossoming from the egg shrouded the room in light and shadows, making the place resemble a scene straight out of a whimsical dream.

“You have my gratitude, Great General Breakspear,” Nie Yan respectfully said. In the previous timeline, very few players owned flying mounts. All for the sake of getting one, countless friendships were destroyed and teams disbanded!

In his past life, Nie Yan could only look on enviously whenever someone summoned a flying mount and rode off into the air. To the him of that time, flying mounts were unattainable luxuries that could only be admired from afar, not up close. He never expected, past or present, that he would obtain a flying mount of this quality.

Nie Yan was beyond elated!

It was only after experiencing two lifetimes that he understood the true value of a flying mount!

Nie Yan placed the Darkwing Dragon Egg into his flying mount slot. He had no idea how long it would take for this egg to hatch. But when that time came, he would become the ruler of the skies!

As Nie Yan put away the Darkwing Dragon Egg in his bag, several notifications popped up.

Nirvana Flame has obtained a flying mount. The flying mount system will be unlocked in two days.

The system will be updated in three days. This will not affect normal gameplay...

The difficulty of class advancement quests will be reduced by 11%. The drop rate of Freedom Skill Books will be increased by 13%...

...

Nie Yan never expected for such a mishap to occur. Thinking back, he did recall something like this happening in the previous timeline. Since it was only a few system announcements, he had long since forgotten their contents. He only remembered a player triggering the flying mount system, and it unlocking for everyone soon after.

Nie Yan never thought he would be the one triggering the release of the flying mount system this time around.

The Asskickers United guild chat started flooding with activity.

「The boss unlocked flying mounts?」

「Holy crap! A system update! The boss is so amazing! He’s the first to obtain a flying mount!」

「I wonder what kind of flying mount he got...」

「Who knows!」

...

The forums similarly blew up. Everyone was discussing about what sort of flying mount Nie Yan obtained and the contents of the system update. The emergence of flying mounts had players guessing and conjecturing repeatedly about what the future skies of the game would look like.

“I heard flying mounts are different from regular ones. Once a flying mount dies, that’s it!”

The revelation flying mounts couldn’t be revived shocked many players. No one wanted to go through all the hard work of obtaining a flying mount, only to lose it forever when it died!

“I heard there’s going to be a servant system as well. Those also won’t revive after dying!”

Since these were the rules of Conviction, it couldn’t be helped. Flying mounts and servants were simply too powerful. Even the most ordinary bird-type flying mounts had frightening combat strength. A single dive bomb from the sky could instantly kill most ordinary players. This was why the system limited flying mounts to a single life. Of course, there were exceptions, such as if the player had a Resurrection Crystal or another similarly rare item.

The servant system would allow the leaders of Rank 8 guilds and above to recruit powerful servants. For example, if Nie Yan completed the longstanding Ten Holy Paladins quest line, he could recruit Karsi as a servant.

Karsi! A legendary NPC! He was an incredibly powerful existence.

Even someone like Karsi could be recruited as a servant. One could only imagine just how stupidly unfair it would be if Karsi could be revived infinitely. Every city in the Viridian Empire would be crushed by his powerful magic.

Servants having only one life made the game more challenging and interesting for the players.

Nie Yan recalled that many things changed after the release of flying mounts, including progression and skills. History was being distorted once more, and he was powerless to stop it.

With events taking another unforeseen turn, Nie Yan could only rely on his own strength to take control of destiny!

News of Nie Yan obtaining a flying mount spread like wildfire. It didn’t matter where, every player was talking about him. Mad God and Depraved’s challenge to Nie Yan was quickly pushed to the depths of the forums, relegated and left to be forgotten as though it had never existed in the first place.

「What kind of flying mount did you get?」Guo Huai asked.

「What flying mount? It’s just a dragon egg! Who knows how long it’ll take before it hatches,」Nie Yan replied.

「Dragon egg? Looks like you’re going to have another dragon by your side.」Guo Huai laughed. He believed the Darkwing Dragon and Lil’ Gold were on the same level while in reality the difference between the two was like night and day.

Nie Yan chuckled. Everything would be revealed when the Darkwing Dragon hatched.

「What are we gonna do about Mad God and Depraved? It seems like the discussion around them has died down quite a bit. Everyone’s now talking about flying mounts.」

「Let them keep waiting like idiots. We can deal with them later when the issue pops up again. Until then, have Smoke Stub and Bladelight prioritize whatever’s more important.」