He flew over the undulating mountain ranges, moonlight spilling over the snowy peaks, reflecting a cold and sacred brilliance. Between the mountains and rivers, ancient streams meandered like the earth's pulsing blood vessels, reflecting the twinkling starlight. The forest, like ink, vast and boundless, was stirred by the wind passing over its treetops, creating a wave of deep green.
Due to the raven's night vision being indistinguishable from the day.
From a bird's-eye view.
This untouched world is breathtakingly magnificent. Dense fern forests roll like green oceans in the wind. Towering ginkgo trees and giant redwoods rise from the ground, and among the canopies soar winged dragons with wingspans over ten meters, their membranous wings gleaming a bronze hue under the sunlight.
In the distance, a herd of Triceratops is migrating, their heavy footsteps causing the ground to tremble slightly, with their young following closely behind, emitting soft cries.
The era when dinosaurs ruled the earth, ancient forests stretched like an ocean of green to the horizon. He saw a group of Brachiosaurus lifting their heads to munch on the cloud-reaching ferns, their trunks thick enough for ten people to embrace; in the distant swamps, several Southern Giant Beasts were fighting over the carcass of a recently deceased sauropod dinosaur, splattering blood and flesh.
Thunderous roars shook the leaves with a rustling sound.
"Are there any Fantastic Dinosaurs even among the dinosaurs?" Ian discovered some rather intriguing things as he glided over an open plain, seeing several Thunder Dragons stretching their necks to nibble on the high foliage. Their skin was covered in peculiar magic markings, resembling some ancient protective spells.
Nearby, a massive Tyrannosaurus lurked in the shadows, its golden vertical pupils fixated on its prey, emitting a low growling sound. Suddenly, a scorching pillar of fire erupted from the ground; this Tyrannosaurus seemed to possess bloodline traits, likely passed down from those ancient giant dragons fond of hybridizing.
"Tsk tsk."
Ian continued his flight.
Along the way, he saw more fantastic beasts.
A few griffin-like creatures nesting on cliffs. A herd of Silver-Maned Unicorns drinking by the lake, their horns longer than those of unicorns in later generations, with tips shimmering like starlight. In the marshlands, enormous Three-headed Snake Lizards slowly swam, each head could spew different elements—fire, ice, and poisonous mist.
Not just animals can evolve and change.
The development of fantastic beasts also undergoes self-adjustment according to the environment.
Creatures have never been able to defeat nature.
Only adapt.
Ian even saw a group of small creatures resembling Tree-Protecting Leprechauns, but they had butterfly-like transparent wings on their backs, dancing among the flower bushes and scattering fluorescent scale powder.
"Little elves?"
Ian approached them.
The timid creatures immediately scattered and fled.
"Boring."
Ian, without lingering too long, continued to soar, his speed far surpassing any aircraft of later generations. A few hours later, the land disappeared, leaving only an endless blue ahead.
The sea breeze, tainted with a salty stench, whipped towards him, waves crashing against the rocks, splashing snow-white foam. This ocean was so vast it suffocated him, waves surging, their foam as white as snow. Ian glided, using his magic perception to sense movements below—knowing this was no ordinary sea.
After all.
It was ancient times.
Indeed, it wasn't long before, as Ian lowered his altitude, flying close to the sea surface, he quickly saw the dominators of the ocean. Ian's shadow seemed to attract something, as a shadow rippled through the depths of the sea, a thirty-meter-long Slippery Tooth Dragon slowly surfaced with a half-devoured Snake-necked Dragon carcass in its mouth.
Its eyes were crimson, full of murderous intent. Immediately after, the sea surface exploded, a Leviathan-level Sword-tooth Shark leaped out of the water, its back entwined with luminescent tendril-like appendages.
The proverbial 'mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole behind' scene unfolded in the sea.
And, with teeth wrapped in dark red magic power, the Deep Sea Hydra appears in Ian's eyes, its bite force strong enough to tear steel, even capable of temporarily leaping out of the sea to devour low-flying winged dragons.
"If Newt sees this, he might faint from excitement." Ian was deeply moved by the biodiversity of ancient times as he continued to fly over the ocean for more than an hour.
"Is the current Earth bigger than the Earth of the future?"
This was a question that arose unanswered during Ian's flight. His speed was already comparable to the swiftest intercontinental missiles, yet after an hour, he still hadn't seen the "other shore of the ocean."
Is this scientific?
Not at all.
But perhaps it's quite magical.
After all.
No one has ever stipulated that in a world of magic, the ancient Earth must be no different from that of later generations.
"La la la la~"
Just then, a strange song sounded from the sea bottom—it was a voice akin to chanting, but he knew it was not human.
It was some kind of summoning from a deep-sea race.
"Grindylow..." he murmured, "mentioned in the original Harry Potter, but here, it appears more ancient, closer to its primal form."
Just as Ian prepared to accelerate away, a small bubble rose from the sea surface, followed by the appearance of a half-fish, half-human figure clad in scale armor and holding a bone fork.
Ancient Sea Dweller?
"Traveler, you don't belong here."
The sea creature spoke in ancient syllables.
Ian directly learned the language by Legilimency.
Only then did he realize what the other was saying.
"I'm just passing through."
Ian replied with the same syllables.
His tone was calm.
"I'm searching for the Titan's homeland."
His use of Legilimency went unnoticed by the other, as the magic of this era was still very primitive, and most races were unaware of the magic of other races.
"The Titan's homeland?" The sea creature paused for a moment, finally pointing in a direction: "Towards Storm Island, go there. But beware of those lurking in the storm."
"They come out of nowhere, very powerful."
It seemed like an NPC was guiding Ian.
Ian nodded in thanks and flew away. After another hour of flying, Ian was certain this Earth was much larger; the long flight made him feel tired.
"Let me rest for a bit."
Ian found a small island, landing on a flat rock. He reverted to human form, waved his magic wand, and a silver light shot into the sea. Seconds later, a giant fish over five meters in length was pulled out of the water by magic chains—its appearance resembling a sailfish, but its head was covered with hard bone armor, and the edges of its fins were sharp as knives.
"Comparable to the Sea King Species I've seen in anime before, nutritious and healthy, high protein," Ian used magic to conjure a blaze of orange-red flame, the flame extremely hot yet not scorching the fish meat. He threaded the fish onto a conjured metal rack, grilling it over the fire.
The fish soon sizzled and oozed oil, the aroma spreading.
"Magic is indeed a convenient thing."
Ian feasted heartily, the fish meat tender and juicy, with an ocean-specific salty freshness. After eating his fill, he leaned against the rock to rest, suddenly sensing a gaze.
Turning his head, on the nearby sandy beach stood a creature resembling a Qilin—but it was entirely snow white, with antlers swirling with lightning, hooves aflame, and eyes emerald green like jade.
"Qilin? No, more like the 'Bai Ze' in Classic of Mountains and Seas." Ian was very surprised, but also found it not too far-fetched, as Newt had also kept Fantastic Beasts from Eastern legends.
This was such a world.
"Roar~"
The Divine Beast watched him warily, letting out a low roar from its throat. Ian stood up, spinning his magic wand at his fingertips: "Don't be tense, I'm just passing through."
The Divine Beast clearly didn't believe him, stomping forward, lightning gathering between its horns.
"Tsk, quite a temper."
Ian was too lazy for more words, waving his magic wand, and an invisible magic chain instantly bound the Divine Beast's four limbs. It screeched furiously but was unable to move.
"Borrow some blood." Ian took out a Crystal Bottle, his magic wand lightly tapping, causing a few droplets of glossy blood to seep from the Divine Beast's front hoof and automatically fly into the bottle.
"If I can't take it back, I'll use it for a dish," Ian shook the bottle, speaking to the stingy Divine Beast, "Just a few buckets; you shouldn't mind?"
Facing such sarcastic words, the Divine Beast who couldn't understand still stared angrily, but Ian had already released the binding, turning into a Raven and fluttering into the sky.
"Thanks!"
Setting off again, Ian flew across the endless horizon. In the distance, the sky slowly darkened, clouds billowing, lightning darting among them. The shell pendant grew increasingly warm.
Ian's little black claw felt all this clearly.
"It's right there..."
At the storm's center, a lonely island could be faintly seen, surrounded by raging lightning and hurricanes. Ian took a deep breath and suddenly accelerated, diving into the storm.