East Forest Base City had fallen? A betrayal?

"Mm." Lin Ming nodded and gently patted the cold armored scales on Xiao Hei's neck.

"Roar!" Xiao Hei understood and raised its head, letting out a deep draconic rumble. Its black-purple wings snapped open, whipping up a gale as its massive body shot into the sky.

It became a streak of black-purple light, racing due east at a terrifying speed far beyond that of an A+ grade fighter jet! In the blink of an eye, it vanished beyond the horizon.

Lin Ming stood on Xiao Hei's broad back. The dark-gold blood-energy shield radiating automatically around him easily blocked the fierce headwind.

The land and mountains below swept backward like a rapidly scrolling painting.

Xiao Hei's flight speed was astonishing, and it flew so smoothly that he could barely feel any jolting. Even more valuable was the pure draconic aura it exuded, imbued with the presence of the Abyss.

Every flying mutated beast they encountered, however restless it had been, scattered in terror as though confronted by its natural predator. None dared approach. That saved Lin Ming a great deal of trouble.

The journey to East Forest would take roughly two hours. Naturally, Lin Ming would not waste that time. He sat cross-legged on Xiao Hei's back and turned his attention to the system.

[Current kill points: 5,800,000]

This was his entire remaining "fortune" from killing the Rat Queen and the scattered battles before that, after deducting the cost of perfectly hatching Xiao Hei.

Five million eight hundred thousand kill points was neither a vast amount nor a small one. Given the potentially greater dangers awaiting him in East Forest, his current strength still seemed somewhat inadequate.

He needed to become stronger.

"System, raise my martial cultivation." Lin Ming issued the command. He was currently at the sixth tier,