“If you’re aiming for a Civilization Academy, there’s not much difference between the third, second, or even first tier.”

Ethan Sutton studied the glass vial in front of him, the golden blood inside somewhat dazzling to the eyes.

After hesitating for a moment, Ethan Sutton took out the blood. It felt like a piece of jade in his hand, slightly heavy.

Ethan Sutton gripped the blood tightly, but still, nothing happened.

“Should I wait another day and try dreaming again? Maybe other monsters also need the Iron Winged Bird’s blood?”

“Or maybe, the Iron Winged Bird’s blood is only useful today?”

The dream changes every day, usually around midnight. If it’s useless after today, who knows how long I’ll have to wait—maybe forever.

If there’s ever another Iron Winged Bird, maybe it’ll never happen again in my life, or maybe it’ll take decades.

His breathing grew a little erratic.

“Then… let’s try!”

“At worst, I’ll get hurt. If I get hurt, I’ll just apply to the Civilization Academy! I’ll study the myriad races there, and sooner or later, I’ll figure out the right answer!”

As for the War Academy, he never had much hope for that anyway. Between interpreting his dream and the uncertain chance of getting into the War Academy, Ethan Sutton gritted his teeth and finally chose to try deciphering the dream.

If he could crack the dream, maybe he’d gain some unexpected rewards.

With one hand holding the essence blood and the other pulling out his communicator, Ethan Sutton quickly sent a message: “Come to my house, I have something to tell you. If I don’t answer the door, break in!”

The message was sent to Henry Brooks. If he got hurt or even passed out and couldn’t call for help, Henry Brooks could take him to the hospital.

After making these arrangements, Ethan Sutton gritted his teeth and quickly stuffed the essence blood into his mouth.

At worst, I’ll just get hurt. Am I someone who’s afraid of pain?

“Ah!”

A miserable scream rang out. Ethan Sutton nearly burst into tears from the pain—it hurt so much!

Boom!

The next moment, his head thundered, and Ethan Sutton blacked out and collapsed to the ground.

“Moonlight!”

The enormous Iron Winged Bird that blotted out the sky appeared again, just like last night, yet somehow different.

And this scene was something Ethan Sutton had never experienced in over ten years—never had the same dream twice, but today, it happened.

The Iron Winged Bird appeared again!

Chapter 7: The Book Opens

“Moonlight!”

The giant Iron Winged Bird screeched, clearer than in previous dreams. This time, he could see it distinctly.

But this dream was still a bit different. Now, a massive drop of golden blood floated in the dream—the Iron Winged Bird’s essence blood.

The Iron Winged Bird, which had been chasing Ethan Sutton, seemed to be drawn by something.

The next moment, the bird’s eyes turned to the golden blood, looking a bit confused.

Soon, the Iron Winged Bird gave up chasing Ethan Sutton and flew toward the golden blood in the void.

It flew faster and faster, and in the blink of an eye, landed before the golden blood. With a screech, it swallowed the essence blood in one gulp.

Boom!

At that moment, the Iron Winged Bird shone like a golden sun, bursting with dazzling light that illuminated the entire dream.

At this moment, Ethan Sutton watched the Iron Winged Bird with anticipation. What would happen next?

The essence blood really worked!

As he pondered, the next moment, the Iron Winged Bird suddenly grew larger and larger, as if it were about to explode.

Ethan Sutton’s expression changed. Sure enough, with a thunderous boom, the dream began to collapse. The Iron Winged Bird exploded into countless golden specks of light, vanishing in an instant, and Ethan Sutton himself was blown to pieces by the blast.

In the final instant of the dream, a book as vast as the sky suddenly appeared.

The book’s pages flipped rapidly. All the other pages were blank, but soon, it turned to a page where the Iron Winged Bird’s golden specks merged in, instantly lighting up the page, and an image of the Iron Winged Bird appeared on it.

The dream ended there, and Ethan Sutton instantly woke up.

……

“Hiss!”

Pain—his head felt like it was splitting open, his whole body ached, as if he really had been blown to pieces.

Ethan Sutton woke up.

At this moment, Ethan Sutton’s eyes flickered uncertainly—the dream had been deciphered.

Right now, a faintly discernible book appeared in his mind.

The very book that had appeared in his dream!

“The dream has become reality…”

Ethan Sutton’s expression grew grave. After so many years, cracking a dream should have been something to celebrate, but why had this dream become real?

That book that absorbed the Iron Winged Bird’s specks of light was now actually appearing in his mind.

Was it just a phantom, or was there really a book in his head?

Ethan Sutton focused on the book in his mind. With a thought, the book began to flip pages. Soon, it reached the page lit up by the Iron Winged Bird.

“Iron Winged Bird (Seventh Layer of Thousand Jun):

Racial Skills: Rend, Level 1 (Essence Blood Activated); Iron Wing Slash (Essence Blood Activated)

Basic Yuan Technique: Absorb Yuan (Essence Blood Activated)”

Just these three short lines, and they weren’t in the human language, but in the script of the Iron Winged Bird race.

If Ethan Sutton hadn’t studied it, he probably wouldn’t understand a thing.

“Seventh Layer of Thousand Jun… Racial skills, basic Yuan technique…”

Ethan Sutton frowned. What was this book?

This so-called ‘Essence Blood Activation’—from the wording, it seemed he needed to keep absorbing essence blood to activate… activate what?

Activate skills?