Its feathers, glossy and black, shimmered alluringly like black gemstones in the desert.
Part eagle, part horse, it stood there like a flawless sculpture.
"It's simply perfect, the Elven Kingdom's air cavalry mount, second only to Dragons!"
Hidden behind a sand dune, Aelita's eyes were filled with the Hippogryph's majestic and proud figure.
This was truly the masterpiece of the Goddess of Life!
"There are Hippogryphs on Aetheram Continent too, right?"
Su Lin thought that this classic image of a winged beast with an eagle's head and a horse's body should be standard in Western fantasy worlds.
"Yes, but… not this many."
Over a dozen Hippogryphs, this must be a whole flock!
Aelita's eyes were wide with shock.
"On Aetheram Continent, these high-level dangerous Magical Beasts usually travel alone. In countless years, no one has ever discovered a Hippogryph flock."
"Scarce, powerful, and graceful are synonymous with the Hippogryph. Only the Gustik Holy Empire has a Hippogryph cavalry team of three hundred riders."
"According to records, there are fewer than a thousand adventurers on the entire continent who own Hippogryphs. It is one of the most coveted companions for all Crusader Knights and Summoners…"
It was clear Aelita had also considered a Hippogryph; her understanding of this Magical Beast was comprehensive.
However, Hippogryphs on Aetheram Continent are powerful Magical Beasts that can rival a Lv60 adventurer once they reach adulthood, and their habitats are mostly in the most dangerous forbidden zones.
Few have even seen one, let alone owned a Hippogryph mount.
Aelita summed up its rarity in one sentence.
"Even my sister has never raised a Hippogryph."
"Understood! Why didn't you say so sooner?"
"You're too confident in my sister… By the way, how are the Hippogryphs in the MC Dungeon?"
Su Lin pondered for a moment, then gave a thumbs up.
"Strong!"
"Although they only have melee attacks, judging from their magic resistance, strength, flying speed, and other aspects, they are definitely much stronger than the Hippogryphs on Aetheram Continent."
"Furthermore, the MC Dungeon's Hippogryphs have one more advantage that is most suitable for you right now: tamed Hippogryphs can carry a large amount of MC Dungeon supplies, about fifteen inventory slots."
Aelita and the others were overjoyed; the Hippogryphs were truly a godsend.
Everything about the MC Dungeon was good, except that the weight of its supplies was bizarrely heavy.
Without Su Lin's strength bonus, and without breaking down those resources, few in the entire Elven Kingdom could manually carry a stack of iron blocks.
Material transport often relied on spatial magic arrays, which would deplete the magic of several elders each time, with an average consumption of five elderly elves for every hundred kilometers of transport.
But if those materials were broken down, they would lose the most important MC Dungeon characteristics of these resources.
Therefore, how to transport the excellent resources of the MC Dungeon to various parts of the Elven Kingdom was the most pressing problem for Hilulele and her companions.
But if a large number of Hippogryphs were tamed… during wartime, they would be an invincible Hippogryph cavalry team, and in peacetime, they would be a Hippogryph logistics group benefiting the nation and its people.
As soon as she thought of this, Aelita became even more anxious.
"It's just to get some rabbit feet, why isn't Grandpa Lawrence back yet? So many Hippogryphs have run away!"
"Don't worry, it's not a big problem."
Su Lin lay leisurely in his rocking chair, while a beautiful, long-legged elven guard massaged him.
"Aren't there still so many left? Taming two or three will be enough. Hippogryphs in the MC Dungeon breed and mature very quickly; a newborn Hippogryph only needs one day to mature."
"O… one day?!"
Aelita's mind went blank.
Did the MC Dungeon give the Hippogryph babies hormones?
On Aetheram Continent, even the Slime, which has the shortest maturation period, takes several months from birth to maturity, let alone a high-level Magical Beast like the Hippogryph.
Developing for a hundred years was common!
"Although I feel like I've said this many times, Su Lin… the MC Dungeon is so abstract!"
"You'll get used to it. Your thought process is so abstract, and I've gotten used to it, haven't I? That's life…"
"Who's living life with you?! Besides, even if Hippogryphs can mature in one day, two or three won't be enough…"
Su Lin smiled meaningfully.
"It's completely enough… Do you remember the breeding process at the Horse Breeding Center and the Meat Ranch?"
Aelita paused, and an unspeakable memory flooded her mind.
That was her first experience in the MC Dungeon of a shock to her moral bottom line.
Frankly, even the most debauched Dragon race had laws against incest!
"That kind of… that kind of disgraceful breeding method, does it also apply to a Magical Beast like the Hippogryph?"
"Clever!"
"Lewd… but very effective."
Not long after their chat, Lawrence rushed back with the rabbit feet.
After preparing and listening to Su Lin explain the Hippogryph capture procedures in detail, Aelita excitedly prepared to set off.
Hilulele, however, held her back, giving Aelita a pleading look.
"Ailili, my sister's pet park was just severely damaged…"
"I know!"
"Have pity on your sister, Ailili… How about leaving a few for your sister?"
"Absolutely not!"
Aelita expressionlessly pried Hilulele's hand away.
"Aside from the Hippogryphs Su Lin wants for himself, all tamed Hippogryphs must be used as breeding stock to quickly establish the Elven Kingdom's Hippogryph Cavalry!"
"My sister also fully supports this."
Hilulele patted her chest.
"My sister is best at raising these little darlings; we can totally put them in my sister's pet park to breed then."
"Don't even think about it!"
Aelita snorted.
"If my sister handles it, all newborn Hippogryphs will be tamed by you alone! How will we train the Hippogryph Cavalry then? Are you the Queen or am I the Queen?! Have some responsibility, you foolish sister!"
The ruthless Aelita could not make Hilulele give up.
After throwing a tantrum for a long time and promising not to raid Aelita's room for three days, Aelita still agreed to Hilulele.
Anyway, from the perspective of the MC Dungeon, which completely disregards ethics and morals, a few Hippogryphs would be enough to breed a Hippogryph Cavalry.
Relatively speaking, Hippogryphs are also the easiest mounts to tame in ice and fire legend; all you need to do is throw rabbit feet.
There was truly no difficulty, and they all obediently submitted to their masters in no time.
Hilulele alone tamed four, and she was currently busy saddling them and riding them into the sky one by one.
As for Su Lin, he only tamed one.
No matter how handsome a Hippogryph is, it's just a temporary measure. What good person comes to ice and fire legend just to tame a few Hippogryphs?
Having one to complete the bestiary is enough.
With the Hippogryphs, subsequent actions became more convenient. Su Lin sent the soldiers without Hippogryphs back the way they came, and he took the remaining people to depart by air.
Running on the desert ground always easily attracted Death Worms.
Over a dozen Hippogryphs lined up in a row, advancing. In Aelita's eyes, it already had the prototype of a Hippogryph Cavalry, which was very imposing.
She felt delighted inside.
Later, when more Hippogryphs are bred, and the Hippogryph Cavalry flies around Doragon, wouldn't Doragon be so scared that he would become a staunch defender of peace from then on?
Aelita wanted to be the greatest Hippogryph breeder in the Elven Kingdom!
---
They also encountered other Hippogryphs along the way, but the group did not go down to continue taming them.
Firstly, the current number was sufficient, and once the subsequent breeding base was established, Hippogryphs could be produced continuously, so there was no need to continue taming.
Secondly… there were Dread Ant nests around the areas where those Hippogryphs were active.
Although those things were not very strong, there were too many of them, and if they made too much noise, they might also attract Death Worms and high-level Dread Ant units from underground.
Having lost his proud numerical advantage, Su Lin would never agree to land, even if it meant his death.
"It's a good thing we tamed the Hippogryphs, otherwise, we might have had a big battle with the Dread Ants."
Recalling the dense swarm of Dread Ants and the deadly aura emanating from the nest entrance.
Even an extremist like Aelita fully supported Su Lin's cautious development strategy this time.
"The exploration risk of the fourth layer of the MC Dungeon is really not on the same level as the first three layers."
Aelita sighed.
It was good that the MC Dungeon could grow infinitely, but if the exploration difficulty of the fourth layer was already so high, could the Elven Kingdom really cope with the deeper layers?
"Dread Ants are still considered weak."
Su Lin looked back at Aelita.
"We haven't encountered truly powerful Magical Beasts yet, like Dread Lich, Siren, Ogre, Sea Serpent…"
"There are even mythical creatures in slumber, like Medusa, Cyclops, Hydra. These are not beings we can deal with right now; we can only talk about it after taming a Dragon."
Aelita was a bit troubled.
"Su Lin, do we have to fight these monsters?"
She hadn't heard of things like Dread Lich, but she was familiar with Cyclops, Hydra, and the like!
Those were terrifying beings that circulated in the fairy tales of Aetheram Continent; Aelita and Hilulele also grew up listening to stories of Cyclops eating people.
They were pure childhood nightmares.
"We must fight! These BOSSes will drop true Divine Artifacts, and even their body materials themselves are mythical-grade materials. In other words…"
"These materials and weapons with mythical properties are tempting even to the Gods of the Celestial Realm."
Celestial Realm… Aelita and the others felt a bit stiff all over.
The gathering place of Gods who possess countless worlds… were they now involved with this place?
Aelita felt a lot of pressure.
It was only the fourth layer of the MC Dungeon, yet it brought them so close to the myths of the Celestial Realm. What about deeper layers?
"Fight! We must fight!"
Hilulele clenched her fists, full of heroic spirit.
"I will make the Elven Kingdom soar!"
"…"
Su Lin finally understood who Aelita had learned that from.
The Elven Kingdom had two black-hearted sisters.
"Very good, very ambitious!"
Giving Hilulele a thumbs up, Su Lin then pointed downwards.
"Let's go, it's harvest time."
"Harvest?"
Following the direction of Su Lin's finger, they saw a rare desert village.
But the village wasn't important.
Their gaze was immediately drawn to the mountain-like giant object not far from the village.
It was a Dragon skeleton.