Chapter 91: Chapter 91

The crisp night air of the north, which seemed to bite a little hungrier during the night, felt unusually light as Sokram and his family returned home.

Their laughter, light and easy, carried on the breeze.

But as they approached the familiar gates of their estate, they found Oliver.

The moment he spotted Sokram, the old stable manager rushed over.

Oliver’s hands trembled slightly as he gripped Sokram’s shoulders.

"Oh, boy! There you are! Do you have a team ready to leave? You won’t believe what I found!”

To prevent Oliver from revealing too much, Sokram quickly intervened, urging him to be silent until it was safe to speak. “Calm down, old man. Let’s not speak on the streets, too many ears.”

After entering, Sokram led Oliver to the living room, where he served him some cold mead and then sat with him to talk as his family sat around quietly observing.

“So, what did you find?” Sokram tried to mask his enthusiasm, but his tone still showed a hint of excitement.

“White Chested Crows, a big nest. More than seventy eggs, two to four weeks from hatching.”

Oliver's words struck Sokram like a bolt of lightning, shocking him in astonishment before he shot to his feet.

“Wait here, I’ll get geared up.”

Sokram turned, intending to rush upstairs, but Hilda stopped him with a glare.

Even before she could speak, Sokram pressed her, "What are you still doing standing there? Go gear up, too, Mom!”

“What do you mean?” Hilda asked, taken aback.

“Who do you think is going to help me? I don’t have the face to knock on my team’s door this late for something that is our personal matter, I’m not that shameless.” Fınd the newest release on noᴠelfire.net

Sokram spoke as if it should be something obvious.

“You want me to go out hunting with you?”

Hilda's eyes gleamed, a delighted gasp escaping her lips as she struggled to contain her excitement.

“Not just you, Second Mother, Master, and Astrid should do…” But just then, Sayuri and Hannah appeared, their gazes fixed on him.

Meeting their eyes, he smirked teasingly, “Don’t you think it’s overkill to have two Semi-perfect Existences just to steal a few eggs?”

Brunhild, who was sitting behind Margiory, cleared her throat, and Sokram lowered his head with a sigh.

Then he turned to Oliver, scratching the back of his head.

“Old man, I guess we’ll have a family picnic under the moonlight, haha.”

Oliver shrugged, “The more the merrier, those crows aren’t very tough, but they are fast.”

“Nah, don’t worry, I have a plan.” Sokram grinned, and looking at his family, his grin widened, “Besides, I want to see how well they can use my spells. Let me go wake Astrid…”

The moment Sokram uttered Astrid’s name, she barreled down the stairs, already geared up. “I’m geared up already, baby bro! Let’s go hunt some chicken and get some eggs!”

Her enthusiasm made them all laugh. After that, Sokram and his family geared up to leave.

Oliver told Sokram that the nest was located near the mountain southwest of the city, only a day and a half's ride away.

Hearing that, Sokram remembered that White Chested Grows were natural enemies of the Grey Scaled Anacondas that inhabited the same region.

Thus, before leaving, Sokram rushed to Figos’s place, luckily finding the old cat still up and working.

Sokram asked for the most pungent, blood-soaked piece of meat he had. And after getting it, he rejoined his family at the south gates.

Arriving there, confusion furrowed his brow; none of them had mounts, and Hannah was missing.

But his question was swiftly answered: a loud clap of wings thundered from above, "WROOMV!"

The ground beneath them shuddered as Hannah descended, a powerful gust of wind preceding her colossal form.

As she landed, the sheer thump vibrated through Sokram's bones.

A profound, aching nostalgia washed over him, a yearning for the feel of his own scales, the power of his own wings, a form he wasn’t sure when he would awaken, since in his previous timeline it only happened after he was a thousand years old.

Hannah's true form was a spectacle: Sixty meters of obsidian scales. Her unfolded wings, seventy meters from tip to tip, cloaked the night like a storm cloud.

Eight horns crowned her draconic head as if carved by moonlight into a queen’s helm.

Her silvery eyes met Sokram’s, and her maw formed something like a grin. Inside his head, Sokram heard her voice, “Let Nana show you the sky you will reach one day.”

Sokram nodded eagerly.

Before anyone else spoke, he disappeared in a flash of Dark Lightning and reappeared on top of her head among her horns.

Soon, he felt her mana binding him to her, so he wouldn’t have to struggle to stay in place.

One by one, his family joined him, staying a little behind to shield themselves from the wind behind her horns.

Hannah's ascent was not merely seen; it was felt across Eversnow.

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A resonant roar tore through the night, a sound that vibrated in the chests of every citizen, drawing faces to windows and doors.

Below, the City Lord and his three wives stood on their balcony, their hushed murmurs lost beneath the thunderous beat of her massive wings.

A single beat of her wings sent a storm of wind and snow in every direction.

The city shrank beneath them, rooftops flickering like scattered embers.

Her presence in the sky was enough to scare off any flying monster, and she knew that the chances of finding a Sky-Overlord, as the flying monsters above Exalted were called, were very dim.

Still, she maintained the flight at a height that would be safe for them.

Being able to communicate telepathically in that form, she got directions from Oliver as they flew toward the nest.

Flying through the skies was an experience that, besides the Aeries, Fairies, Succubus, and Dragons, was foreign to all other races.

Even to Sokram’s family, as Draconic Humans rarely awakened dragon form, if Sokram’s bloodline wasn’t so pure, he wouldn’t either.

Each time Hannah surged through a cloud, a sudden, damp chill enveloped them, followed by a fleeting blindness before the stars reappeared, brighter than ever.

When she dove, their stomachs lurched, a thrilling plunge that left them breathless, their fingers instinctively tightening on her horns, a delicious mix of exhilaration and terror tingling on their skin.

Oliver, Miralyn, Leona, and Margiory’s knuckles whitened around a horn. While Brunhild and Hilda’s laughter tangled with the thunder of wings.

Hannah wanted to provoke Sokram’s hunger for the skies.

She succeeded and not just with him.

Sokram and Astrid were having the time of their lives shouting and whooping at every maneuver Hannah did.

This also made the moment joyful and fulfilling, especially since Hannah's mana made the experience even more enjoyable, protecting them from the biting cold.

On Hannah’s back, the journey that would take a day and a half of riding only took an hour.

When Sokram realized they were approaching the nest, he asked Hannah to go to the nearest swamp first.

Hannah’s limbs touched the snowy ground without a whisper, a feat absurd for a creature her size.

Sokram was about to jump from her, but her mana pinned him down to her head; her voice resounded in his mind once more, “Explain first.”

At that, Sokram remembered he was hunting with his family.

Turning to them apologetically, he started, “Sorry, I got overly excited, haha.”

Hilda nodded, understanding as she also had a good time.

Miralyn, though, despite her love for dragons, wasn’t a fan of flying, especially on a dragon’s back.

Just as it was with his mothers, the reactions were also mixed among his family.

Though no one got any motion sickness.

Some were smiling while others were frowning.

But Margiory was very pissed, 'There was no reason for you to fly like that, you hag!'

She glared down, tempted to stomp on Hannah’s scales, but held back, knowing Hannah wouldn’t take it kindly.

Once his family had recomposed themselves, Sokram started explaining his plan.

“I plan to use the Gray Scaled Anacondas from those swamps and lure them toward the crows’ nest. Use them as a distraction; they are natural enemies, and the snakes won’t hesitate to attack the nest once they catch its scent. While the crows defend their nest, we infiltrate and steal the eggs, simple, right?”

Sayuri looked at him, smiling knowingly, and extended her hand to him, “I assume that the bait is what you went to get from that cat, right?”

Seeing Sokram nodding with suspicion, her smirk grew, “Let me lure the snakes, even if you hide, I can track you.”

Sayuri pointed at her heart.

Being a Fox above Exalted granted her the ability to track the person she was devoted to.

Sokram nodded, understanding, and handed her a spatial ring.

He knew it wouldn’t do him any good to insist.

But before Sayuri left, Oliver told her, “Ma’am, please try to lure at least one Exalted-level Anaconda. With a nest of that size, there might be at least one Exalted Crow there.”

Sayuri nodded but asked, “How do I know if the snake is at the Exalted Level?”

Sokram answered automatically, “Grey Scaled Anacondas gain a black pattern on their backs once they reach Exalted, it should look like an orc tribal mark. They also have a small chance to gain extra heads.”

“Alright!” Sayuri jumped from Hannah’s back and melted into the shadows, her ruby eyes flickering like dying embers before the swamp’s gloom swallowed her whole.

Hannah took off again into the skies.

She didn’t go straight to the mountain but flew around it looking for a vantage point to hide and observe.

She quickly found a good spot on one of the mountain range peaks.

On top of her head, Oliver took out his artifact, which looked like an ornamented octagonal bronze box.

Oliver injected it with his mana, and the box opened like a flower pointing in eight directions, revealing a compass.

Once open, it shone faintly, and a small projection of a crow with a white chest appeared in the center, and in the direction of the nest, seventy small stars.

The women around looked at it with great interest, but the greedy Margiory had to say, “How much for it?”

Oliver frowned and said, “Aren’t we already business partners? Why try to buy me out?”

Margiory chuckled, embarrassed and looking caught, “Sorry, merchant habits.”

Astrid grinned mischievously and joked, “Heh, Grandma, are you sure you aren’t a dragon reincarnated? Hannah always says draconic greed knows no bounds, and yours doesn’t either, haha.”

Hearing that, not even Sokram managed to maintain a straight face, and all of them, even Margiory, laughed.

Suddenly, Sokram felt Hannah moving her clawed draconic hands and forming a few hand signs.

A dense fog oozed across the mountain ledge, swallowing stone and shadow alike.

The air turned wet and silent, muffling even their breaths.

In the next moment, they heard a few caws coming from the Crows.

Her voice, unnecessarily, reached their minds, “Not a sound, they are very close.”

After a few more minutes, she dispersed the fog.

Then she cast a new spell that turned her whole body to an aspect and color similar to the stony mountain wall, like a chameleon's camouflage.

Her voice resounded once again, “Sayuri is nearby, I’ll stay put here for backup and to keep the eggs you manage to get safe.”

“Alright,” Sokram nodded, knowing she was adding an escape route to his plan.

Turning back to his family, “Let’s go, guys.”

He cast a glance at Oliver, who looked very nervous, and calmed him down, “Don’t worry, old man, just point the direction to us and we will get the job done. That’s the deal we made after all.”

Hearing his words, Oliver sighed in relief, but then quickly explained, “Look, I’m no coward. But my cultivation is low and…”

But before he could say more, Leona patted him on the back, “Heh, old man, don’t worry. The truth is, I’m quite thankful, as I know we all are, we finally have an excuse to see Sokram in action with our own eyes instead of through recordings.”

Seeing the women around nod enthusiastically, Oliver relaxed, “Oh, alright, next time I find a nest I’ll contact you first, then, haha.”

“And that will earn you a bonus!” Margiory said in good humor, but Sokram knew she wasn’t joking.

“Sigh… Alright, let go.”

But Sokram wouldn’t complain; this was something he had never enjoyed in his previous timeline.

He never got to fight alongside Hilda.

There were times he fought alongside Astrid, but they were fighting for their lives.

When Margiory and Hannah appeared in his life, Margiory wasn’t strong enough to fight alongside him, and Hannah was tied to Dracony.

By then, Brunhild was gone.

The only ones he'd ever shared moments with were Miralyn and Leona, and even those had been fleeting.

They quickly left after getting the directions from Oliver and left him with Hannah.

They rushed toward the hiding spot where Sayuri was waiting for them.

While moving, Sokram reminisced about his past and compared it with the present.

He couldn’t help but smile.

Seeing him smiling like that also made the women around happy, but it was Astrid who spoke first, “We need to do this more often. After you fulfill your obligatory service, let’s form a team with just us from the family?”

Sokram looked at her with a bright smile and nodded, “Sure, but if our family continues to grow in power at this speed, by then, we will become a force strong enough to take down countries, maybe even empires.”

Brunhild, hearing that, joked, “Why not revive the empire we, the Dracnakrid, derive from?”

But hearing her words, Sokram felt goosebumps, “Never!”

His aversion to any nobility rank or such responsibilities became a common joke among his grandmothers to Hannah's dismay.

But what Sokram truly meant was: Never again!

Words that burned behind his eyes, a vow made to himself, one that brought many unpleasant memories back.

A vow that was forged in loss and grief.