The next day, Shaun Cole walked out of the main hall and onto the open square outside.
The icy wind cut across his face like blades. He drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled—white mist immediately billowed from his mouth.
"The air here really is something else…"
Shaun Cole said with a relaxed smile.
He hadn't felt this at ease in a very long time. During his thousand years in the game world, he had faced constant pursuit by Holy Knights and various powerful families. Only after obtaining divine artifacts had he finally been able to confront those knights head-on.
"But it's still a bit too quiet,"
he muttered to himself.
"Looks like I'll need to find a way to bring some people here."
With that, he walked to the back and sat down at the edge of the protruding rock.
Gazing over the vast mountain range ahead, Shaun Cole seemed lost in thought.
Keey—!
A sharp eagle's cry suddenly rang out from the distance.
Shaun Cole's eyes lit up, surprise flashing across his face.
He had spent nearly a thousand years around eagles in the game world. Even yesterday, the deep claw marks carved into the rock had already told him something—
An eagle lived here.
And not just any eagle, but a fierce one.
Now, as he looked at the bird flying in from afar, he recognized it instantly.
A gyrfalcon.
But gyrfalcons normally lived in the far northeast of Huaxia—this was the Himalayas. And yet, here it was.
The falcon diving toward him was almost entirely pure white, dotted with only a few small brown specks. Its wingspan stretched over two meters.
Its talons were black as iron, glinting with a cold, lethal sheen. If those claws seized someone, they would unquestionably tear bloody holes through flesh.
"A mutated gyrfalcon,"
Shaun Cole murmured excitedly.
Ordinary gyrfalcons were already revered as the "God of All Eagles."
A mutated one could only be called a god-king.
At this moment, the gyrfalcon's eyes burned with fury as it dove straight toward Shaun Cole.
That rock was its usual perch—
from there, it could survey its entire territory and spot prey from afar.
In the blink of an eye, the gyrfalcon reached him, its iron talons slashing toward Shaun Cole's face!
Clang!
Shaun Cole raised his arm. The talons struck his bracer, producing a sharp metallic ring.
Those claws are sharp…
Shaun Cole reached out with his other hand toward the gyrfalcon. Sensing danger, the bird beat its wings hard and leapt backward into the air.
It began circling above him, searching for another opening.
Looking up at the gyrfalcon overhead, Shaun Cole simply sat down—then lay back on the rock, folding his hands behind his head as he calmly watched the massive bird in the sky.
Eagles were proud creatures—
and the gyrfalcon, king of all eagles, even more so.
To be so blatantly ignored by the creature below—how could it not be enraged?
Keey—!
With an angry screech, the gyrfalcon folded its wings. Its hooked beak locked onto Shaun Cole's face as it plunged downward like a bolt of white lightning.
Shaun Cole smiled faintly and slowly extended his hand.
Anyone who had played Assassin's Creed knew this well—
the eagle was the symbol of the Assassins.