The Strongest Talent Tree

The color drained from Feng Hao’s face as he subconsciously extended his Divine Sense. He saw a hundred-meter-long Winged Dragon flying toward them. A fierce wind howled with every flap of its fleshy wings—it was the High-level Magical Beast, the Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon.

As a young man who had received a formal Mage education, Feng Hao knew just how terrifying the Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon was.

High-level Magical Beasts were defined as magical beasts with extremely high innate abilities. Unlike other magical beasts, they were born with Tier Five strength and possessed intelligence on par with humans. They instinctively knew how to absorb and use Magic Power, making their combat prowess exceptionally formidable!

The Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon before them was one such beast. Judging by its size, it was clearly an adult, possessing at least Tier Eight strength.

"Damn it, taking a shortcut was a terrible idea! What do we do now?" Feng Hao asked, his expression grim.

"That’s a Tier Nine Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon. We definitely can’t beat it in a fight." Mei Meimei gave a bitter laugh, then grit her teeth and shouted, "Hold on tight! We’re running for our lives at full speed!"

"A Tier Nine Magical Beast?" Feng Hao exclaimed in horror. "Can we even get away from that?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the car began to tremble. An immense wave of inertia immediately slammed into him, as if an invisible giant hand was pinning him forcefully to the back of his seat.

It took Feng Hao a long moment to recover. He clicked his tongue in amazement. "Holy crap, what is this speed? Is this a rocket?"

"Less talking! It’s still not certain we’ll get away!" Mei Meimei shot Feng Hao an annoyed glare, struggling to keep the flying car stable in the fierce winds stirred up by the Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon.

Feng Hao was speechless. After gradually adjusting to the inertia, he was finally able to sit up straight and subconsciously glanced out the rear window.

The Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon was still in hot pursuit. The howling of its wings kicked up endless gales, causing even the surrounding clouds and mist to churn and swirl.

"SCREEE~!"

The Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon clearly had no intention of giving up. It opened its beak-like mouth and, with another screech, spat out a massive spiral of flame that shot toward them like a missile.

"Fourth Sister, dodge!" Feng Hao shouted, his face pale with fright.

Mei Meimei focused intently on piloting the flying car. Steering was difficult, perhaps due to the extreme speed. Although she managed to evade a direct hit from the spiral flame, they were still caught in the fiery blast wave.

In an instant, the cabin became as hot as an oven. Even the compressed crystal-glass windows on the sides started to warp.

"Good thing we weren’t hit directly, or we’d be toast," Feng Hao said, a wave of fear washing over him.

Meanwhile, Mei Meimei also let out a long sigh of relief. After its failed attack, the Cyan-eyed Winged Dragon had given up the chase.

After the heart-pounding chase, the flying car had unknowingly passed through the depths of the Nia Jungle.

Mei Meimei wiped the sweat from her brow. With a flip of her hand, she used her ice-attribute talent to conjure a cloud of bluish-white mist, instantly alleviating the scorching heat in the cabin. "Good thing that beast didn’t keep chasing us," she said. "Otherwise, we wouldn’t have made it out alive today."

"Yeah," Feng Hao said with a sigh of relief. "By the way, Fourth Sister, what was with that speed just now? How did we manage to escape from a Tier Nine flying Magical Beast?"

"Don’t even mention it," Mei Meimei said, her expression pained. "That one focused energy propulsion burst just now burned through an entire Level 6 Magic Crystal."

"What? That one burst of propulsion used up an entire Level 6 Magic Crystal?!" Feng Hao was dumbfounded.

"What did you expect?" Mei Meimei retorted irritably.

Feng Hao was speechless.

For context, even a flying car with a high-power engine consumed at most one Level 2 Magic Crystal per hour, and many people couldn’t even afford that. Yet that single burst of acceleration had incinerated a Level 6 Magic Crystal. The cost was staggering enough to give someone a heart attack.

What did a Level 6 Magic Crystal even represent? That was an entire trillion Magic Crystals! Feng Hao’s total assets combined didn’t even come close to that amount.

’I had been hoping to use that kind of speed to get back ahead of schedule, but that’s clearly out of the question now. One burst costs a Level 6 Magic Crystal,’ he thought. ’I couldn’t afford that even if it cost me my life.’

"Speaking of which, what kind of device is this focused energy propulsion? Is it expensive to build?" Feng Hao asked curiously.

"It’s a component from a universe shuttle. What do you think?" Mei Meimei asked with a smirk.

Feng Hao was stunned. ’No wonder it’s so powerful. So it’s actually a propulsion device from a universe shuttle.’

’It was like strapping a rocket booster onto a car. It would have been weirder if it *wasn’t* fast.’

’Then again,’ he thought, ’my Fourth Sister is crazy enough to actually install a universe shuttle’s propulsion system onto a flying car.’

...

After their narrow escape, the flying car resumed a safe flight path.

By dawn, they had already flown completely out of the Nia Jungle, more than half a day ahead of schedule, much to Feng Hao’s pleasant surprise.

"We’re about to enter Wolf Country territory. How about we find a place to rest when we do?" Mei Meimei suggested, looking exhausted.

Feng Hao nodded. "Okay. We’ve been flying for a long time; we should get some rest."

"Haha, at least Xiaowu knows how to be considerate. Unlike the boss and the others, who never let me rest." Mei Meimei smiled, gratified, and couldn’t resist teasing him a bit.

Feng Hao shook his head with a laugh. "We’re at the border between Wolf Country and the War and Magic Alliance Countries. The terrain is rugged, so there probably aren’t any cities around. We’ll have to look for a village or a small town."

"I don’t care. As long as we can land and rest, it’s fine," Mei Meimei said nonchalantly.

Feng Hao said no more, instead looking down through the window and carefully observing the ground below.

Before long, a small town nestled in a dense forest came into view.

"There it is!" Mei Meimei’s eyes lit up. She immediately slowed down and flew toward the town.

Feng Hao studied the surrounding terrain, his brow furrowed in thought. "I don’t see any sign of the Divine Seal Mountain Range yet, so we should still be inside the War and Magic Alliance Countries. I’m surprised a town even exists in such a remote place."

"Who cares which country it’s in? We’re just stopping for a rest," Mei Meimei said dismissively.

Feng Hao gave a wry smile and didn’t dwell on it.

A dozen or so minutes later, the flying car landed smoothly outside the town. The moment they got out, Mei Meimei impatiently pulled Feng Hao toward it.

But as they walked into the town, they discovered there wasn’t a single person in sight in the large settlement. An eerie feeling instantly washed over them.

"This is impossible," Mei Meimei said, her brow tightly furrowed. "Judging by all the shops lining the streets, this should be a prosperous town. How can it be completely empty?"

"Something’s definitely wrong." Feng Hao nodded grimly and subconsciously released his Divine Sense to investigate.

To his surprise, there were people in nearly every house. The problem was that none of them were coming outside, even in broad daylight. He had no idea what they were doing cooped up in their homes.

Mei Meimei was also investigating with her Divine Sense, her delicate face filled with confusion. "Strange. How can there not be a single Mage in a town this big?"

"No Mages?" Feng Hao was taken aback, his brow furrowing.

’Although not everyone in the Mage World can awaken their magical potential, they’re not as rare as one might think. This town has a population of tens of thousands, at least. It’s impossible for it not to have any Mages, and even more impossible that it doesn’t have a Mage assigned to guard it.’

"That’s right. I scanned the entire area with my Divine Sense and didn’t detect the slightest hint of a Mage’s aura."

Feng Hao mulled it over. "Let’s find an inn first, then we can ask about the situation. I have a very strange feeling about this town."

"Okay." Mei Meimei didn’t argue and began scouting the path ahead.