Picking Up Attributes From Today - Chapter 139
Chapter 139: A Great Bird Riding The Wind, Soaring Freely In the Sky
In Meng Lei’s eyes, the Floating Beast bore a striking resemblance to the whales on Earth. With their flat and level, smooth and round pillar-shaped body; a flat, fleshy, wide, and spacious back; and a whale-like tail…
There were only two words to describe it—how alike!
The difference between the two laid in the fact that a whale’s abdomen had a leaf-shaped fin, whereas the Floating Beast’s abdomen had a pair of sky-spanning wings covered in scales and six pillar-like elephant-ish legs.
Enormous!
Strong and burly!
Lofty and majestic!
It was hard to imagine that an enormous creature like that would actually have such a mild and gentle temperament that even ordinary people could rear them.
Of course, riding a colossal creature like that wasn’t going to be as comfortable as riding a magic ferry or the empire special express for sure, but it suited the contestants just fine.
They were all ninth-grade experts. Who wouldn’t want to control a Magical Beast and ride on the wind? Where was the fun in riding a magic ferry or the special express?
The group arrived at the rental company and rented a Floating Beast in no time. Upon which, the related staff members got to work at once.
An hour and a little more later, a huge house had been fixed onto one of the Floating Beasts’ back—it looked just like a bulging turtle shell.
“This Floating Beast is now our mode of transportation. There are 60 rooms, and you may choose one as you please.”
“Thank you, President!”
A rope ladder cascaded all the way from the Floating Beast’s back down to the ground, allowing customers to climb up its back with it. However, none of the contestants used the rope ladder.
All of them transformed into numerous streams of light and went up the Floating Beast’s back in a jiffy with a light tap of their toes. Every one of them looked confident and moved about free and unhindered as though they were just taking a leisurely stroll, attracting much attention from others.
Indeed!
No matter where they went, a group of more than 50 ninth-grade experts would always be enough to cause a huge commotion. When it was Meng Lei’s turn, the commotion became even bigger, however.
As his feet left the ground, he began to slowly rise into the sky—it was as if there was an invisible flight of stairs beneath his feet, allowing him to take step after step into the sky.
This sight astounded everyone.
“President Fred, that little fellow has broken through?”
“Yes, he has!” President Fred nodded proudly.
“Hiss!”
The academy presidents stared at Meng Lei from the back, so astonished that they couldn’t even utter a single word. It had only been a night, yet Meng Lei had already broken through?
The other contestants were even more flabbergasted than them and held complex feelings about this.
…
After they got onto the Floating Beast’s back, Meng Lei casually chose a room from the many available. The room was smaller than what he had imagined and looked only to be about four to five square meters.
Within it was a slat bed and a desk, so apart from sleeping and eating, there was nothing he could do there. An environment such as this was totally shabby, but it couldn’t be helped.
Due to the Floating Beasts’ inexpensive rental costs, they were highly favored by small trader groups, adventurer teams, and mercenaries. Compared to other modes of transport, they were considered relatively low-cost long-distance tools of transportation.
Would anyone truly wealthy want to ride on them? Of course not. All of them had already gone to the magic ferry and the empire special express.
“It can’t get any shabbier than this.”
Meng Lei shook his head at the sight of the room, disinclined to stay any longer. He went to the Floating Beast’s head instead, intending to admire the scenery before he decided what to do later.
There was no lack of contestants with the same thoughts as him. A fair number of them stood outside the house as they waited for the Floating Beast to take off.
“Dear passengers, please go to your rooms and buckle up. We’re taking off soon!”
The beast tamer controlling the Floating Beast gave them a kind reminder. Beast tamers like him had entered into master-servant contracts with the Floating Beasts, so they were able to control the Magical Beasts.
He was also their chauffeur for the journey this time.
“It’s fine!”
“Go ahead and drive!”
“Alright!”
The beast tamer didn’t press any further. He had already witnessed these passengers’ capabilities just now, so he knew that all of them were experts and probably wouldn’t fall off the Floating Beast.
Whistle!
The beast tamer took out a whistle and blew it forcefully.
Howl!
The Floating Beast slowly began to move with a long howl. Its six elephant-like legs took step after step on the ground, producing loud, dull, and muffled booms as they did so.
Meng Lei and the others standing on its back could feel violent jolts and bumps from the movements. As the Floating Beast ran faster and faster, the bumping and tossing about also became more and more intense.
It went from a slow walk to a brisk one, and then it began to dash forward.
At last, when its speed finally reached a certain point, the Floating Beast suddenly spread its gigantic wings capable of blotting out the sun and covering the earth and soared into the sky.
Violent winds howled with the flapping of its wings.
The Floating Beast soared higher and higher, going further and further away from the plaza.
A few minutes later, the Floating Beast’s wing-flapping rate began to slow down when it reached a certain altitude. They flapped once only almost every half a minute, and then it went into the most energy-saving gliding mode.
As Meng Lei took in the sensation of the strong winds blowing at him and looked down upon the land constantly becoming smaller and smaller, a sense of heroism arose within him. Then, with a leap, he jumped off the Floating Beast’s back.
“Hahaha!”
A bout of mad, unrestrained laughter rang out as Meng Lei spread his arms, and he started to soar about freely in the sky like a bird.
Dashing forward occasionally, swooping downward occasionally, and circling about in the sky occasionally—he was as happy as a lark and as free and unfettered as a magnificent eagle!
“That boy…”
The six academy presidents shook their heads and chuckled as they watched the soaring Meng Lei. They couldn’t help but think back to the times when they had just broken through to Saint Domain. They had practically behaved the same way as Meng Lei, too…
Soar! Soar as much as you want!
However, they didn’t know that Meng Lei was in even higher spirits than what they had imagined. As someone born and raised on Earth, Meng Lei knew very well that humans couldn’t fly on their own.
This was an iron-clad rule and also an established law.
They could only gaze into the sky time and again, full of envy toward the flying birds as they sighed. “If only I had wings!”
However, Meng Lei could fly on his own now. This was a feeling that no words could describe.
Carefree, excited, agitated…
“The roc rises with the wind someday, soaring 90,000 miles yonder with the wind[1]!
“Sipping dew at sunrise and resting under the red clouds at sunset! This is exactly what a man should be like!
“Hahaha! This feels wonderful! So goddamn wonderful!”
The other contestants were green with envy as they watched Meng Lei soaring about unrestrained in the sky. How they wished they could also soar freely like him!
It was just a shame that they could only glare at him in vain.
Meng Lei flew to his heart’s content for almost half an hour before he finally returned to the Floating Beast’s back, far from sated.
“Meng Lei, come over here.” President Fred summoned Meng Lei over. “Here, let me introduce these people to you. This is the Fighting Dragon Academy’s president. And this is…”
Meng Lei greeted them one by one, while the five of them also responded with smiles.
Before he had broken through, Meng Lei was but just a junior and student with excellent talent. Therefore, it was alright for them not to take him seriously.
However, now that he had become a Saint Domain and was standing on the same level as them, they had to treat him as an equal—age was irrelevant!
“Valor is better demonstrated by the young, indeed!”
The Fighting Dragon Academy’s president sighed approvingly and remarked, “At the qualifying round yesterday, we had thought that you’d need some time before you could break through. Never would I have thought that you’d break through right away last night. This is truly…”
“Indeed!”
“I really have no idea how you managed to do that!”
The other academy presidents also marveled at him, awfully perplexed.
“You flatter me, Presidents!” Meng Lei spoke very humbly.
…
The Floating Beast flew fairly steadily.
Meng Lei and the six academy presidents sat on its back. They chatted freely about various interesting news and everything under the sun while they admired the mountains and the streams, the rivers, and the lakes.
Meng Lei listened to them quietly. One could say that he had gained much from this.
Even the youngest of the six academy presidents was already past 100 years old. All of them had seen a lot and were very knowledgeable—the opportunity to listen to them chat about life was a precious treasure that no amount of money could buy.
Suddenly, a smiling President Fred said, “Meng Lei, you can try challenging the Dragon God Tower when you’re at the Imperial City. If you’re in luck, who knows, you might just be able to get some good stuff!”
“The Dragon God Tower?”
A look of confusion came over Meng Lei’s features.
[1] The first two lines from famous Chinese poet Li Bai’s ‘Shang Li Yong’
