Imperial Crown.

Chapter 202 "Wind King" Egg
In the busy Eagle Town, the old man is not conspicuous.

The white robe he was wearing had turned yellow from washing, but his hair and eyebrows were snow-white, and his skin showed no signs of aging. He could be said to have a youthful face despite his white hair. With his white beard that reached down to his waist, he looked like an elderly scholar.

And his performance fits that image very well.

Standing on the street with a wooden stick in his hand, he would observe the passers-by, the houses on the street, and the gravel on the road for a long time, as if there were profound truths contained in them.

"Old man, are you lost?" A young man came over.

The old man looked at the young man.

He looked to be in his twenties, with an awkward smile on his face that had been weathered by life. He was wearing a Ball brand suit that was not high-end but fit him very well, with signs of wear and tear on the collar and cuffs.

"My name is Peter." The young man felt a little embarrassed. "Old man, if you have nowhere to go, you can stay at my house for one night."

The old man's eyes paused on Peter's face: "Why do you want to help me?"

"I just saw you were here alone and thought you might need help." Peter said a little embarrassedly, "I'm really not a bad person! If you're worried, I can take you to the police station."

The old man was a little curious: "What is the police station?"

"It's the former patrol station." Peter explained: "More and more people come to our Eagle Town, and there are always people who get lost. The public security office is responsible for it. Don't worry, we don't charge any money."

"Oh..." The old man nodded slowly: "Thank you, young man, I don't need any help."

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Peter on the shoulder. A faint golden light penetrated into Peter's body. He himself did not notice it, but he felt more excited.

Hearing hurried footsteps and panting behind him, Peter quickly turned around and saw a local dog running towards him.

Squatting down and holding the dog in his arms, Peter dodged the overly enthusiastic tongue: "Bobby! Good boy, be obedient and stop licking!"

After finally calming Bobby down, Peter looked back and the old man had disappeared.

At this time, the old man had already walked onto another street.

Perhaps infected by Peter's enthusiasm, he began to take the initiative to talk to people, asking locals about their lives; and asking tourists about their thoughts.

The people I met were diverse, some were indifferent, some were enthusiastic, but most of them were just ordinary people. They just said a few brief words and asked if the elderly had a place to stay at night.

When asked where to go for entertainment, the recommendations were varied.

If you have more money, you can go to the Wallace Hotel to experience the unique dishes there.

The "Eagle Burger" with steak sandwiched between two slices of bread may be too greasy, but the fried noodles with soybean sauce are very suitable for the elderly with weak appetites. If it is a hot pot, there are more ingredients to choose from.

If you have little money, you can go to the Lion's Pride Tavern and listen to the songs and stories of the bards. There you can sit and rest for a while and they won't chase you away.

If you like excitement, go to the Colosseum. Although the "Goblin King" Kikikok has not fought for a long time after winning thirteen consecutive victories, the fights between other gladiators are also very intense and fierce, and the circus performances between the acts are not to be missed. If you don't plan to bet, the ticket only costs five copper coins.

If you really have no money in your pocket, you can go to the Paramount Hall, where all new customers will be given a ten-denomination chip, and food and drinks are free. If you are lucky, you may become a millionaire when you come out.

Someone also mentioned Crystal Palace, but was immediately stopped by his companions.

The old man listened to their advice.

Under the cover of night, he went to the Wallace Hotel and ordered all kinds of novel foods, filling up the entire table. Amid the stunned waiters and other guests, he slowly ate the food, which was enough to feed three or five strong men.

After eating, he went to the Pride of Lion King as if nothing had happened, ordered Angel's Tears, and mingled with a group of mercenaries to listen to their bragging and nonsense.

After drinking to their heart's content, the mercenary leader with a face full of flesh and a blind eye put his arm around the old man's shoulder and asked, "Hey, old man, you seem to have some skills. I'm from the Hongfeng mercenary group. Who's your boss?"

The old man chuckled: "Me? There's no one above me."

Strangely enough, he knocked down a group of mercenaries while drinking, but he was still energetic. He left the tavern and went to the Paramount, where he won and then lost all the free chips, and even watched a dance at the Crystal Palace before finally coming to the Colosseum.

He arrived too late and the front row seats were already occupied, so he chose a seat in the back.

It was a lively night. The old man was very absorbed in watching the show and would chat with the people around him from time to time.

The show ended at around three in the morning, and by the time the cleaners had finished sweeping the venue, the sky was already turning light grey.

In the dim morning light, the old man drew the emblem of the Lord of Light on his chest with both hands.

Recalling his experience that night, he murmured:
"Raven, your territory is indeed different from other places."

This old man is Lux’s teacher, the seventh-level great wizard Crouch.

He was once the youngest cardinal in the history of the Church of Light, but he gave up his church position at the age of 47 and devoted himself to asceticism.

Working his way up from a low-level priest to a cardinal, Crouch had a deep understanding of many territories, many of which were wealthy.

But even the most prosperous territory has a different background from Eagle Town.

Because those prosperous cities, even including the capital of the Keynes Empire, were built on the flesh and blood of the lower-class residents. The upper class was arrogant and extravagant, the lower class was full of hostility, and evil was breeding in every crevice.

But it was different in Eagle Town. As Crouch walked along, talked with the subjects and sat with the serfs, he was surprised to find that these people were living very well. Although they could not be called middle class, they had enough food to eat, enough clothes to wear, and some spare money for entertainment.

That kind of satisfied, leisurely and hopeful look for the future cannot be faked.

What kind of magic power does this Raven have?
Walking out of the arena, there are all kinds of stalls on the roadside, all selling breakfast that can be used as a getaway.

There were vegetable soup, pre-cut bread, and even a civilian version of noodles with soybean paste that was copied from the Wallace Hotel, which was steaming hot and served to those who were hungry after coming out of the arena.

There were also some elderly people who had just woken up early, ordered some breakfast, and gathered together to play Lewis chess.

Crouch's eyes lit up, and he moved closer to watch intently. After more than ten minutes, he could not help himself:

"How can you touch the king at this step!"

Raven had no idea that such a great god had come to his territory. He slept soundly that day, woke up naturally, had breakfast, and then wandered over to the monster farm.

On the way, the black cat swayed around his feet, occasionally diving into the grass by the roadside, swatting away flying insects, nibbling on flowers, and after being covered in dew and grass seeds, she would run to Raven and pester him to comb her hair.

All the way to the monster breeding farm, you can hear the faint cries of horned hippogryphs from afar, as well as the loud scolding of the trainer Odu.

Now there are 272 more hippogryphs in the farm. Odu can no longer take care of them alone. Most of the recruited apprentices have to be trained from scratch, so Odu's temper is getting worse and worse, and his face is red with anger every day. When he saw Raven coming in, his hot temper was restrained: "Baron, you are here!"

Raven walked inside: "It's only been half a month and we already have the first batch of fertilized eggs. Am I right?"

"I guarantee it, Baron." Odu said with a smile, "As the saying goes, cats live in March and dogs live in April. Beasts..."

Before he could finish his words, the black cat Sikoret suddenly cried out, obviously very dissatisfied. If Odu continued, he would definitely be scratched all over the face.

Raven shrugged, meaning - I can't do anything to her, just bear with it.

So Odu skipped this section and continued, "Different magical beasts have their own breeding cycles. For example, the male Hippogryph will go into heat once every February."

"This batch of hippogryphs was affected during the transportation process, and the estrus period of the males was delayed. So once they settled down and adapted to the environment here, they started mating."

"Birds all lay eggs. It may seem fast now, but it will take at least a year for them to hatch."

As they were talking, the two men and the cat came to the second floor. The chirping sounds that were originally only faint became clearly audible, making people's ears feel a little stuffy.

Odu handed over a pair of earmuffs and motioned for Raven to put them on first, but the black cat Sikoret couldn't stand the sound and opened his mouth and screamed.

The sound was actually not loud, but it immediately quieted the hippogryphs, and even the three most noisy males became defeated roosters.

Odu looked at the black cat in surprise: "My Lord Baron, your pet is truly amazing! I've never seen a hippogryph be so quiet!"

Sikoret sat on Raven's shoulder, raised his head with disdain, and licked his paw, as if it was not worth mentioning at all.

Raven was actually a little surprised, but he still acted calmly: "Where is the egg?"

"You come with me."

A total of 37 female hippogryphs were fertilized in this batch and laid 59 "live eggs", or fertilized eggs.

The habits of female horned hippogryphs are somewhat similar to those of hens. Once they start sitting on a nest, they will no longer lay eggs, so Odu concentrated all the live eggs under the bodies of a few female horned hippogryphs.

Due to the female horned hippogryph's instinct to protect their eggs, it is difficult to remove the eggs even if they are fixed. However, perhaps because of Xikored's "female power", the egg-removing process was quite smooth this time.

Originally, those ordinary eggs looked no different from ordinary chicken eggs in color, except that they were large enough, two times larger than ostrich eggs, and they were all white.

These live eggs are much more vivid.

It is as big as a watermelon, with chestnut-sized spherical bumps on its surface, and dense green spots between the bumps.

This time, without waiting for Raven to speak, Odu took the initiative to go downstairs with anticipation on his face - before, the Baron allowed female hippogryphs to have the same flying ability as males, so what would be different this time?

A silver light flowed out from Raven's pupils, and the Eye of Truth quietly opened.

"Huh? What is this?" There was a hint of surprise in Raven's eyes.

Among the 59 eggs, 28 were filled with rich essence of corrupted souls, which was almost as good as magic cores. Although the remaining 31 eggs also had it, they were only a faint trace.

“Are all these eggs with rich rotten soul essence male?” Raven rubbed his chin. “When they grow up, the rotten soul essence spreads into their flesh, blood, and brain, so they become ferocious and violent.”

Raven used the straw nearby to tie a rope between the 28 eggs as a mark, ready to identify them after they hatched.

Then, taking out the crystal bottle, Raven began to try to extract the essence of the corrupted soul from the egg, which was not very difficult.

Then, he stretched out his hand and touched his belt, and a box of nearly a hundred second-level wind-attribute magic cores appeared in his hand.

These were ordered from the Deep Blue Platform when the Hippogryphs were first obtained. They were originally used to strengthen female Hippogryphs, but now they are used to strengthen these eggs.

After being promoted to the third level, Raven's mental power improved again, and his sensitivity to elements also increased, so it didn't take too long to strengthen 30 pieces.

The reason why only 30 eggs were strengthened was, firstly, because these eggs had a very strong ability to absorb magic cores. Two magic cores were needed to strengthen one egg, and Raven also wanted to keep some to strengthen those female horned hippogryphs!
Secondly, it is also for the purpose of having a comparison - God knows whether the strengthened eggs can hatch and what will hatch. If the effect is not good, the whole army will not be wiped out; if the effect is good, the next batch will still have a chance.

I have to say that the eggs after being strengthened look very good.

The originally hemispherical protrusions turned into slightly sharp thorns, the green spots became more intense, and some overlapped with each other. At first glance, it looked as if layers of violent winds were sweeping across the eggshell!

Then, based on his previous experience, Raven strengthened thirty female horned beasts at once. He planned to assign this batch of them to Simon's scout troops.

After finishing all this, Raven called Odu back. Just as he was about to instruct him about marking, Odu rushed to the pile of enhanced eggs and said in a trembling voice, "Baron... Is this the result of your experiment?!"

"This is not an ordinary hippogryph egg, this is a 'Wind King' egg!"

Raven was stunned for a moment: "Wind King? What is that?"

Odu rubbed his hands and said, "Lord Baron, the hippogryphs we see now are all domesticated, so they can't produce magic cores and don't have innate magic."

"But the wild Hippogryph, also known as the 'Wind King', is not only larger in size and has a stronger flying ability, but it can also use two kinds of innate magic. It can independently defeat a second-level ten-star monster like the Earth Bear!"

"If we use them as mounts, we'll be called a true air force!"

With a smile on his face, he rubbed his hands and stepped aside: "My Lord Baron, how about I step aside for a while, and you also... experiment with the remaining eggs?"

Raven's mouth twitched: "...We'll talk about it next time."

The eggs are good, but he doesn’t have enough magic cores!
He still has 10 wind-attribute magic cores in his hand, but there are 29 hippogryph eggs and 240 hippogryphs waiting to be strengthened.

Things on the Deep Blue Platform are expensive to begin with. Previously, one hundred wind-attribute magic cores cost Raven 6437 gold coins.

You need to buy another 298 tier 2 wind magic cores, which is nearly gold coins!
Returning to the secret room and placing an order on the Deep Blue platform, Raven felt his heart bleeding.

If I continue like this, I’ll never be able to save up a million gold coins in my lifetime!
After coming out of the secret room, Raven encountered good news. A letter from Lux was placed on his desk.

"Really? If you want to see me, just come and see me. Why send a letter?" Although he said that, Raven still smiled and picked up the envelope, took a deep sniff, and then slowly opened it.

The moment he saw the above content, Raven's smile froze on his face.

……

(End of this chapter)