My Kulu-Ya-Ku Brother

Hot.

Scorching heat.

The scorching sun baked everything below from every angle, the rising heat distorting the air near the ground.

If a piece of meat were thrown directly onto the ground under the sun, it would likely be cooked in less than ten minutes.

This was a barren land with little greenery, only vast stone forests stretching one after another, as if something had forcefully pushed them out of the ground, piece by piece.

Only in some rock crevices and shadows could traces of plants be barely seen. They seemed to be doing their best to maintain the most basic food chain in this barren land, preventing this area, which seemed forgotten by life, from falling too far behind its neighbors.

Of course, for Xingyan, the life in this barren land seemed a bit too vigorous.

Meaning: dangerous.

Bang!

A heavy footstep seemed to herald the start of chaos, growing closer and clearer. The occasional misstep revealed the panic of its owner.

However, this was understandable. After all, behind the solitary footsteps, there was a large group of thundering sounds mixed together. Just imagining from the sound, one could picture a comical scene of one person running away while a group chased them.

The only difference was that now, neither the pursuer nor the pursued were humans.

Xingyan was not surprised by this, or rather, he was already accustomed to this situation.

This had nothing to do with humans.

It was dragons.

Peeking his head out slightly from beside a rock at the edge of the stone cave—well, he could only manage a slight peek—Xingyan could see the situation outside.

A long-tailed dragon, like a bird and covered in yellow scales, was running across the gravel of the barren land while holding a huge egg. It had a thick, blunt beak and a tuft of bright red and orange feathers on its head.

Chasing this bird-like dragon were a group of four-legged dragons with shells on their backs like turtles.

The case was clear: undoubtedly, the bird-like dragon running ahead had stolen the egg of the shelled dragons behind it, and was now being pursued by the angry owners.

It was also evident that this fleeing bird-like dragon was a repeat offender. Although it was the one running away, it knew the escape route like the back of its claw.

Its seemingly panicked steps did not hinder its escape. It skillfully avoided protruding rocks, undulating slopes, and potholes along the way, occasionally using them to block the pursuers behind it.

This cunning creature even twisted its body when jumping over potholes, reflecting the midday sun off its yellow scales towards the rear, blinding the unlucky pursuers with the dazzling sunlight.

Skillful.

"Grumble grumble... Caw!!"

When the bird-like dragon saw the stone cave ahead, it visibly relaxed. Its running pace even quickened, and it let out a loud cry, as if urging something on.

"This is truly despicable."

Hearing the urgent call, Xingyan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Bang!!

As both sides, the pursuer and the pursued, passed through the stone cave, which had openings at both ends, Xingyan leaped down from the high stone platform. He lowered his body, bending and raising his long, massive tail as much as possible.

"Roar!!!"

Dragon's Roar!

At a speed visible to the naked eye, the group of shelled dragons on the opposite side immediately panicked. Their instincts urged them to flee, abandoning even the revenge for their stolen egg.

Under Xingyan's satisfied gaze, these pitiful creatures rushed in, and after a brief moment of chaos, they rushed out again.

It didn't take long before only a cloud of dust, kicked up but not yet settled, remained outside the stone cave.

The egg thief was safe, but only temporarily.

Thinking this, Xingyan turned to look at the little egg-thief—from a low angle.

Yes, as a dragon, this egg thief was even taller than him. But unlike Xingyan, there was no trace of majesty or power on this bird-like dragon. In front of Xingyan, it looked rather wronged.

It was hard to imagine that such an expression of heartache could be seen on the narrow, unmuscular, and scaly face of the bird-like dragon. Reluctantly, very unwillingly, the egg thief tremblingly extended a pair of front claws holding the egg, right in front of Xingyan.

Yes, its sideways glance kept darting towards him, as if expecting some miracle to happen.

That miracle would not happen.

Xingyan ate quickly.

It was just the egg of a herbivorous dragon, a matter of a few bites. He ate slowly to prevent the nutritious egg yolk from being wasted.

It wasn't enough, or rather, for the current Xingyan, such eggs should not have been on his menu. He needed something more nutritious or harder—but what could he do when he woke up in this world and hatched with nothing around him?

Yes, Xingyan was a transmigator. He had bought the game Monster Hunter: World the moment it was released. He hadn't expected his 3080 computer to be unable to even start the game. Well, to be precise, it did start, but everything from the grass to the rocks to the sky flickered incessantly. In short, it was unplayable.

What was even more unacceptable was that when he was watching videos, he found someone playing World smoothly on a 1080 computer—in any case, after cursing Capcom loudly, Xingyan closed his eyes and opened them to find himself inside an egg.

No longer in the peaceful and safe society he had lived in for over twenty years, but in the world of the game he loved so much.

Still the New World.

The New World of an unknown era.

He was no longer a human, but a dragon that could even eat ore raw.

Being suddenly thrust from a familiar, safe environment into the wild, dangerous natural world was enough to make anyone... to make any dragon despair. What made Xingyan despair even more was that in this brutal world of naked predation, he was born as a Young Dragon but had no elders to care for him through his youth.

When he broke free from his eggshell and emerged from a dark underground stone cave, all he could see was a desolate desert and ant mounds of various sizes.

These familiar landmarks, and then seeing his current appearance reflected in the flowing water by an underground river, made Xingyan clearly realize what had happened to him.

He was already a dragon, a Dragon Slayer, hailed as the Blazing Blade, also known as the Long Sword Dragon.

As the foremost of the "Four Heavenly Kings" on the cover of Monster Hunter X, the Dragon Slayer was extremely popular among players, both in appearance and combat style, considered the coolest dragon... the most Long Sword-like dragon.

Xingyan was already intimately familiar with all sorts of information about Dragon Slayers and the New World, but the problem was that all that was the joy of adult Dragon Slayers. What did it have to do with him, a creature who hadn't even had a mother dragon care for him until his tail hardened?

A newly hatched Dragon Slayer's tail was still soft. And because it hadn't yet consumed large quantities of ore, the tail at this stage hadn't secreted and solidified the rich mineral-laden blade that gave them their name. Coupled with a young Dragon Slayer's pathetic bite force, the only creatures it could bully were likely harmless herbivores.

He couldn't even breathe fire.

For Xingyan, this meant he was likely falling far behind other Dragon Slayer cubs from the very beginning. Without a mother dragon feeding him enough to ensure his healthy physical growth, and without enough ore to forge his own peerless sword, he was at a severe disadvantage.

And in the cruel natural world, such disadvantages were often fatal, even affecting a dragon's entire life development.

This was precisely why Xingyan had been reduced to colluding with Kulu-Ya-Ku, those egg-stealing thieves who fought any dragon they saw, and becoming their accomplice—a dragon has to eat, right?!

Filling one's stomach wasn't shameful.

Uh, okay, maybe it was a little shameful.

Whenever his stomach rumbled, Xingyan couldn't help but sigh. He looked down at his current body, only to see a pair of small, cute, chicken-like forelimbs and remarkably sturdy legs relative to his overall size.

Of course, there was also his slender Sword Tail... although it couldn't really be called a Sword Tail yet, Xingyan was filled with anticipation for this tail that was almost half his body length.

Cool!

"Slurp, glug glug, slurp!"

The sounds of ungraceful eating nearby interrupted Xingyan's memories. He turned his head and saw the Kulu-Ya-Ku that had brought him his egg already digging in.

In a corner of the stone cave, there were even three intact eggs, all stolen by the Kulu-Ya-Ku earlier. And now, it had started eating. Xingyan squinted as he watched it extend its specially structured tongue, which had barbs to prevent the egg liquid from flowing backward.

"Slurp!"

The sound grew louder.

This was the Kulu-Ya-Ku, Xingyan's dragon brother for life. It was this Kulu-Ya-Ku, with its stolen eggs, that had allowed Xingyan to fill his stomach during the most difficult period after his birth—uh, well, albeit unwillingly.

Starving and dizzy, Xingyan had leaped out at the first living creature roughly his size, startling the Kulu-Ya-Ku, which was carrying eggs and fleeing. The Kulu-Ya-Ku immediately dropped the eggs and ran for its life, and then Xingyan had his first meal in this world.

Then, it was a matter of first time awkwardness, second time familiarity. Strangely enough, perhaps because it was used to its usual escape route, the Kulu-Ya-Ku, after having its eggs stolen by Xingyan once, chose the same route a second and even a third time.

Well, and then all the eggs were stolen.

But perhaps because Xingyan had jumped out and scared away a herbivore that was chasing the Kulu-Ya-Ku during its first escape, this intelligent Kulu-Ya-Ku seemed to have understood something from then on.

Normally, a Kulu-Ya-Ku would steal three to four eggs a day. But from that point on, this Kulu-Ya-Ku would steal at least seven or eight eggs every day. And this cave, which was exposed on both sides and lay along its escape route, became a stronghold for the two dragons. Over time, it became what it was now.

If a system can run stably and is good for both parties, then don't change it, and don't risk doing anything unnecessary... Xingyan understood this principle well.

But one point worth mentioning was that only when the two dragons could interact face-to-face did Xingyan realize that the creature who had abandoned its eggs and fled in an instant during their first meeting was actually taller than him.

An adult Kulu-Ya-Ku was over nine meters long and stood between three and four meters tall, far larger than a newly hatched cub like himself. But in a society like the natural world, where strength was judged by comparing the size of the two parties, the larger Kulu-Ya-Ku was paradoxically the one who fled.

One could only say it was its nature.

At least it was a good thing for Xingyan at the time.

"Goo-jee?"

Seeing Xingyan suddenly walk in front of it, the Kulu-Ya-Ku tilted its head in confusion.

"Roar! Roar roar roar!"

Xingyan roared incessantly, his meaning roughly being:

Good brother! You work hard stealing eggs to raise me now, and when I grow up, you won't have to steal eggs anymore. I'll take care of them, and you can eat the eggs openly!

Uh, something like that. Xingyan didn't know if the Kulu-Ya-Ku could understand his words, but—he had accepted this brother!!

"Ga ga! Goo-jee-jee!"

He didn't know what it was saying, but the Kulu-Ya-Ku brother did extend its two forelimbs, holding an egg.

There was no yolk left, only the egg white.

"Roar? Roar roar roar!" (You really know how to eat, kid?)

Xingyan was even a little speechless at his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother's pickiness. This guy only ate the yolks when stealing eggs, and disdained to even eat the remaining egg whites, acting like some kind of gourmet.

Before encountering Xingyan, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brother would simply discard the eggs with the yolks eaten. But now, they wouldn't go to waste.

Not picky, he took it and ate it directly.

Xingyan wouldn't let go of any food that could fill his body with energy. He even licked the Ant Workers that passed by on the ground. There was no other reason than to help his body develop as quickly as possible.

New World eggs—the eggs of creatures living in the New World were indeed nutritious. Abundant Ley Line Energy made the eggs laid by these creatures sufficient to nourish higher-level beings. This was the meaning of the food chain, and Ley Line Energy continuously flowed and accumulated through this cycle of eating and being eaten.

Compared to the time right after he hatched, Xingyan felt his body was growing rapidly.

The muscles in his legs were rapidly expanding. To support the immense body of a Dragon Slayer for unimaginable high-speed movement, leg development was paramount. The shell on his body was also rapidly developing towards a dull hardness, at least not like when he was just born, where some parts of his shell were even semi-transparent.

Young wild animals in nature generally grew rapidly after birth. The period right after birth was the fastest growth period.

Watching his constantly twitching tail, Xingyan decided to treat himself to more dirt today... it would be even better if he could find some mineral veins.

He yearned for a real Hunt.

Not the pathetic existence of stealing eggs for a living, living like a Kulu-Ya-Ku, but a true Hunt befitting a carnivorous beast wyvern, a Hunt worthy of its cover monster status.

It was both pride and instinct.

His instincts were calling to Xingyan—telling him to eat meat!