When it was time to log off the friends had only killed seven out of ten rats. Not only were these monsters quite tanky, but they were also hiding underground and only came out when approached. Thus, the party had to waste some time searching for them. However, Liam's friends were quite excited as they were quickly approaching level 60. They even though about staying in the tribe and grinding until they could finally get their flying mounts.
As everyone was excited, the rest of the evening passed quickly, and a new day arrived. The friends returned to the game and continued hunting rats. For some reason they seemed particularly lucky today. The missing three rats were soon found, and the second part of the quest was finished.
For now, the friends left the forest behind and went to pick up Oraxc's toothpick. Fortunately, their target was not far away. Next to the vegetable garden there was another forest. The war trolls had built a few workstations there where they usually produced some tables and benches with their oversized, extremely terrifying looking tools.
When the friends arrived, they stayed far away from the saws which were carelessly placed against some trees. They swiftly found their target, Gardex, and received the toothpick from him. At this point the friends were not surprised when the toothpick turned out to be a wooden pillar with a sharp tip.
Of course it couldn't be placed in the inventory. Thus, Liam, Watchful Eye, and Radiant Shield volunteered to carry it. They went all the way back and finally returned to Oraxc after a few minutes.
"Ahh! Adventurers, you brought my toothpick! Thank you!"
The chief smiled joyfully as he took the toothpick from the players, which in his hand indeed didn't seem so large anymore. He began to pick his teeth and talked to the players, which made his speech quite slurred:
"So, how fah have youh come? Hidh youh clea theh hats?"
"Yes, Oraxc. We have already completed all three quests. We came to ask for the key, please."
"Oh, you're done already?!"
The chief showed great surprise. He threw the toothpick behind him where it landed in the crackling bonfire and quickly began to turn dark. Oraxc froze for a moment before he let out a sigh:
"No! I've done it again. Now that old shaman will berate me again about being too wasteful. Hah, perhaps I should just start a fight with someone so the others would be distracted…"
The players didn't know what to say. They were afraid that Oraxc would ask them to get another toothpick. But luckily it didn't come to this. The troll chief remembered why the players were here. He acknowledged the completion of the quest, and the players received their rewards.
Suddenly multiple lights engulfed the friends. Everyone expect for Liam was taken aback for a moment before jumping in joy.
"Yes! Level 60!"
"Haha, so worth it! Oraxc is the best!"
"Quick, quick, bring out your flying mounts."
The troll chief was confused by the players' antics. He decided to ignore them and began to rummage through his bag for the key. It took him quite some time to find the object, which was so minuscule compared to all the items in his bag.
Meanwhile the friends swiftly slotted their flying mounts. A moment later all kinds of mounts were summoned.
"Haha, tremble before my majestic Lightning Hawk!", laughed Cyclone proudly as she patted the white head of a dignified, large hawk. The rest of its body was a light brown. Crackling lightning spontaneously erupted from its wide wings.
Other than Cyclone's hawk there were Watchful Eye's extremely beautiful Five Elements Dragon Carp, which swam in the sky as the sun reflected from its colourful scales. Radiant Shield's Heaven-Patrolling Griffon let out an excited roar, giving off a reliable and mystical aura. In stark contrast stood Fortune's Arcane Owl of the Ages. The blue and black owl found a place nearby to perch on, quietly overlooking the scene with its eyes brimming with wisdom.
Finally, Oraxc managed to fish out the small key from his bag. He carefully held it between his fingers, afraid that he would damage it should he just use a little too much strength. Liam had Drasky fly towards the troll's palm and bring the key back down.
"Great. Now when I see the old man again, I can confidently say that I didn't disappoint him. Adventurers, I happily invite you to stay for a few more days if you want to. However, if you want to continue your treasure hunt, I understand as well…"
"Yeah, yeah. Goodbyeeee…"
Even before Oraxc had finished talking, Cyclone had already jumped on top of her hawk and raced towards the sky. Thanks to their previous experience the friends already knew how to control their flying mounts. But riding their own flying mounts still gave them a different feeling. Cyclone wasn't the only one eager. Everyone wanted to experience the feeling of soaring freely through the skies.
Cyclone raced left and right, up and down. She was quickly caught up by a speeding golden star. Balm came close, waving at her friend. From a certain perspective she had the most special flying mount as she was the only one who hadn't chosen a living being. Instead, her mount was a familiar artifact. It was the Sun of Lumor which had formerly belonged to the world boss Magma Giant Tuechou. Like many other world bosses Tuechou didn't reappear after the event. It was unknown if he was still alive. This would be quite a blow to Dream Avenue if Liam didn't know the location of many other world bosses to make up for it.
Suddenly a silver light flashed by below them at a breakneck speed. The two could barely make out the figure of a gorgeous, silvery, phoenix-like bird which carried Silver Blade on its back. The female tank was already testing her limits. She had used the ability [Dive], which all unique flying mounts had, to recklessly increase the already formidable speed by performing a sharp nosedive.
"Hey!"
"Watch were you're going!"
Silver Blade laughed to herself as she sent Quickstep and Silent Acacia tumbling. The couple were enjoying the flight next to each other. Quickstep was riding on a beast half fish and half bird, called a Juvenile Catastrophic Peng, also a type of celestial beast. It had an elegant, elongated body and wide wings. It was the biggest out of all the flying mounts but surprisingly also the fastest. Although the speed differences between flying mounts were small, they were there.
While Quickstep rode what could be called a mythical creature, Silent Acacia appeared much more down to earth. He sat on the back of a tall dog with fluffy white fur. Although it looked somewhat cute, it's fierce eyes and the golden armor protecting its body showed that this Juvenile Celestial Guardian Dog was not to be messed with.
The rest of the friends stuck close to the ground. Fortune rode on her wise owl, feeling that with such a mount she should be more dignified. She recorded her friends in the air, deciding to upload a short video today before everyone else also got their own mounts. However, she was nice enough to ignore the two men trailing being her. They were Radiant Shield and Bloody Edge.
The latter was sitting on a sort of black, bat-like demonic beast called Juvenile Demonic Blood Stalker. Demonic beasts were on one level with celestial beasts but usually it was close to impossible for someone of the order faction to get their hands on one.
Bloody Edge was patiently accompanying his friend while Radiant Shield got used to the sensation of flying. This was a big step for him. Although the others didn't stay close, they constantly encouraged him in the party chat. The majestic, armoured griffon seemingly felt his master's anxiousness and steadied its flight. It was quite gentle, without any bumps.
Radiant Shield suppressed his shivering body. He followed Liam's advice and focused entirely on the mount below him, building up trust. There was a mental link between rider and mount through which the players directed their mounts. If one immersed themselves deep enough, they might even get the feeling of being one body. One would realize that there was simply no possibility of falling from one's mount without outside interference. In order to demonstrate this, Liam even flew upside down around Radiant Shield. He didn't slip from Drasky's back one bit, as if gravity couldn't affect him at all.
Watching Liam, Radiant Shield gradually built up some confidence and trust in his mount, but he was still quite far away from being able to race around like his friends.
The friends continued playing for almost half an hour. However, when Liam realized that they were getting quite far from the troll tribe, he finally stopped them.
[Bleary Mirage: Guys, are you sure we are flying in the right direction?]
[Cyclone: What right direction?]
[Balm: He's saying you should look at the treasure map!]
[Cyclone: Ups!]
Cyclone smiled sheepishly. She and Balm slowed down and studied the map together. After the party received the key, the map had changed again. A new symbol had appeared, looking at least somewhat like a large bone. And this was not all…