Heroes' Prison

Chapter 1046 - 990: Wings of the Sun Chaser

"I must say, you have a divine eye!" The elder stroked his beard, nodding in admiration, "This pair of ’Wings of the Sun Chaser’ is indeed the most precious treasure here!"

"Wings of the Sun Chaser?" Huang Yi repeated the name.

"Yes! The Wings of the Sun Chaser, also known as ’Wings of Icarus,’ were crafted by our Feathered Race’s last epic hero—Sun Chaser, Icarus!" As the elder spoke, his aged gaze fixed on the pair of wings hanging on the wall, he said with a sigh, "Before our branch’s ancestors came here to live in seclusion, there were eight epic heroes in the Feathered Race’s history. The last one was Sun Chaser Icarus! His name in the ancient language of the Feathered Race means ’Light of the Setting Sun,’ a name reflective of the destiny of the Feathered Race. He appeared during the most tragic and darkest era of the Feathered Race, which was the time of the Oskan Empire. At that time, we Feathered Race were mostly reduced to slaves whose wings were cut off, and the descendants of these slaves were born with severe defects, with incomplete wings. After generations, the Feathered Race lost the ability to fly. Just when it seemed our race would bid farewell to the sky forever, Sun Chaser Icarus was born!"

The elder’s eyes emitted a faint sparkle as he continued, "Icarus was from our Chase Sun Clan, and like all the clan members at the time, he was born without complete wings and couldn’t fly. But he refused to sink into despair; he longed to soar across the vast sky, chasing the warm sun like his ancestors. From a young age, he was determined to revive the entire Feathered Race and lead them back to the skies. To this end, he frantically studied various knowledge, alchemy, blacksmithing, engineering, architecture, and so on... He embarked on long research, trying every possible way to make every member of the Feathered Race fly. He tried alchemy and pharmaceutical manufacturing methods, hoping to create a permanent flight potion, but ultimately failed; he attempted runes and magic, which did allow one to fly awkwardly, but the flight speed and altitude never met his expectations. After many trials, he finally turned his eye to engineering; he wanted to create an artificial wing!"

As the elder spoke, he paced around, slowly walking towards the wings on the wall, and continued, "After meticulous design, Icarus finally created the first pair of wings. Those wings indeed allowed him to fly, but after a short distance, the wings’ wooden framework couldn’t withstand the fierce wind and broke, causing him to fall from the sky and break a leg. Icarus had to continue to improve the design; he repeatedly revised the structure of the framework and changed the framework materials numerous times, conducting test flights repeatedly and narrowly escaping death several times. After numerous failures and improvements, he finally developed a new alloy, which combined super strength with being extremely lightweight, fulfilling his needs for the wings’ framework, and his years-long dream came true!"

With a faint smile, the elder said, "Icarus soon produced a batch of these wings and distributed them to other members of the Feathered Race. During that time, the Feathered Race indeed took to the skies again, after years without the sky, they could finally fly again, and the entire tribe celebrated in great fervor, recognizing Icarus as a hero of the entire tribe and inscribing his story into our epic. As he was from our Chase Sun Clan, people affectionately called him ’Sun Chaser.’"

"Why didn’t these wings become widespread?" Huang Yi asked curiously, "Logically, if such artificial wings were truly so powerful, they should have left a significant mark on world history, but I’ve never heard of them."

"Because these wings still had defects!" The elder said frankly, "The alloy Icarus created was too expensive, and the raw metal materials were extremely rare; with the resources the Feathered Race had at the time, it was simply impossible to produce them in large quantities. Moreover, the feathers attached to the wings were very fragile, needing to be replaced after each flight, with the time for feather replacement exceeding flight time, which was very cumbersome. Over time, the Feathered Race lost interest in these artificial wings, they were still imperfect, insufficient to truly return the Feathered Race to the skies, let alone pursue the sun."

The elder shook his head slightly, expressing his view, "In my opinion, the biggest problem for the Feathered Race isn’t the loss of wings, but that the entire race has declined too severely; even if they could fly again, they’re no longer contenders to other races. A mere artificial wing can’t reverse the historical decline of the Feathered Race. Moreover, these wings would attract the covetous glances of other races, inviting disaster."

The elder sighed and continued, "But Icarus refused to end things that way; he vowed to, in his lifetime, chase the sun around the world like his ancestor Johns! To solve the problem of the feathers on the artificial wings, he went so far as to use one of the Feathered Race’s treasured artifacts—over eight thousand Feathers of Johns!"

"Feathers of Johns? Over eight thousand?" Huang Yi was shocked!

The Feather of Johns, this is a famous treasure in The Second World!

Back then, although Johns was divinely enthroned, the feathers on his body shed, totaling one hundred thousand, and scattered across the world! Only a few have passed down to today!

If a priest class can obtain one Feather of Johns and embed it into their equipment, their healing ability can be significantly enhanced.

A priest player who manages to get hold of just one Feather of Johns can become a master in the priesthood.

And Icarus managed to get more than eight thousand! Such a number is simply astounding!

"Yes! More than eight thousand!" The old man nodded, stretching out his withered hand, gently caressing the wings on the wall, his fingers brushing over the dense golden feathers, "Back then, Johns left behind one hundred thousand feathers, one-tenth of which were collected by our Feathered Race, about ten thousand or so, and by the time of Icarus, more than eight thousand remained. Icarus placed all these more than eight thousand Feathers of Johns onto his own pair of artificial wings! After replacing them with these powerful feathers, those artificial wings suddenly shimmered with Divine Light, radiant and magnificent, far surpassing any previous set of artificial wings, unmatched in power! After Icarus equipped himself with those wings, he faintly exhibited the demeanor of Johns reappearing in the world once more!"

"They were practically divine wings!" The old man’s tone grew excited, "After having these wings, Icarus was overjoyed and immediately fastened them onto his back. He soared into the high skies, attempting to pursue the sun like the ancestors! That was always an epic day; countless races around the world were shocked to discover a human figure in the sky beneath the sun! Many years later, another feathered race was pursuing the sun! In countless lands, people gazed upwards, as if the entire world watched Icarus’s sun-chasing journey. It was the last recorded pursuit of the sun in the history of the Feathered Race! However, this also attracted some enemies of the Feathered Race, and several masters ascended to intercept Icarus subsequently."

The old man paused, then continued, "My people of the Chase Sun Clan do not pursue the sun out of idle curiosity, but due to an actual physiological need. Because in our bloodline, there is an innate talent for absorbing sunlight, and through pursuing the sun, we can rapidly strengthen ourselves. During Icarus’s pursuit of the sun, his strength rapidly advanced, and the pair of divine wings on his back greatly boosted his power. Before the eyes of people worldwide, he slayed multiple masters who came to block him, nearly turning the entire sky crimson with blood. Icarus used this massacre to revive the past glory of the Feathered Race dominating the sky!"

"But it was nothing more than the last glory!" The old man sighed slightly, "After killing multiple masters in succession, Icarus grew proud, flying higher, seeking to absorb sunlight faster and increase his power. However, the feathers on those wings were sealed with wax, and because he flew too high, the sealing wax was eventually melted by the scorching sunlight. Many feathers fell, and the pair of divine wings quickly began to deteriorate! Those enemies seized the opportunity to attack him collectively. Icarus managed to kill all those enemies, but he was critically wounded himself. The wings finally completely deteriorated, unable to keep him flying. Eventually, gravely injured, he fell into the sea and drowned. The great Icarus, bringing hope to our race like the Returning Light before the death of the Feathered Race, quickly fell away. Ironically, it wasn’t the enemies that defeated him, but the sun he worshipped!"

The old man shook his head, lamenting, "Later, the Feathered Race painstakingly found Icarus’s body and buried him. The damaged wings were left with only over five thousand dimmed Feathers of Johns, devoid of any power, while the other feathers had fallen and drifted away! Since then, no one in the Feathered Race could repair those wings, and they were eventually taken away by our ancestors of this branch and hidden in this secluded place."

"So these are the wings from back then?" Huang Yi couldn’t help but sigh, reaching out to touch the wings on the wall. Who would have thought these wings, hidden in a dark, sunless cellar, once had such a heroic epic.

"Yes! These wings are already damaged, and the remaining Feathers of Johns on them have lost all power, but if you can repair them, they are definitely divine wings!"