Moreover, the scholars believed this Glavenus might be capable of communication—not only because it had refrained from attacking the hunters pushing carts whenever it had seen them, but also because it had used its own carapace to make a simple set of armor for its Kulu-Ya-Ku companion.
It could serve as a way to identify the Kulu-Ya-Ku, and it also offered some protection—but more significantly, this was an act of toolmaking.
A difference in awareness that set it apart from other dragons.
Back in the Old World, these scholars had studied many kinds of dragons. But when those dragons lived in the wild, they relied most heavily on their own bodies, teeth, claws, or special energies.
No monster had ever consciously made tools to protect itself.
But this Glavenus did.
If news like this made it back to the Old World, it would surely astound and intrigue countless scholars.
Yes, Glavenus was indeed the most intelligent dragon in the Beast Dragon Species, but this one had displayed an intelligence that went beyond that of an ordinary Glavenus. How could these scholars not be astonished?
So, since this unusual Glavenus hadn't shown the overwhelming aggression of its kind and even ignored the hunters' activities in the Great Sand Sea, they would continue observing it for now. They would wait for the Leader to return before making any concrete decisions.
As the elite core of the First Expedition Team, the Leader had been tasked with uncovering the secret of the Elder Dragon Crossing. After landing, he had decided to leave some people behind to build a base while taking a group of elites to track the Lava Dragon.
And he still hadn't returned.
But Xingyan couldn't share the hunters' worries about their Leader. He had absolute faith that Gold Rathian and the others of the Ape Dragon Species would all live safely for another forty-odd years.
He was busy.
Busy eating, busy building up energy to evolve.
Honestly, Xingyan was starting to feel more and more like a Deviljho. Every day, from morning till night, he was busy hunting down nutritious food to eat. The only difference was that he didn't have to stuff every bit of meat he found into his mouth like a Deviljho.
Even so, Xingyan was putting tremendous pressure on the ecosystem in the area where he lived. Even he could tell that much.
The clearest sign was that his hunting grounds kept expanding. Unlike an ordinary Glavenus, the force driving him to hunt and eat wasn't a desire to fight or a need to fill his stomach. It was Life Energy.
Yes, there were plenty of Aptonoth, and eating nothing but Aptonoth was enough to fill Xingyan's stomach. But there wasn't much Life Energy stored inside them!
Filling his stomach wasn't Xingyan's goal. He needed more nutritious food, food with more Life Energy stored inside it—in other words, the large dragons higher up the food chain.
These large dragons lived long enough to keep preying on the creatures below them in the food chain, accumulating Life Energy inside their bodies as they did.
Even if Xingyan couldn't use the evolutionary information found in these large dragons, accumulating their Life Energy alone was already a great benefit.
Xingyan needed a vast amount of Life Energy to evolve. As long as he wanted to keep advancing, he would inevitably become an ecological menace like a Deviljho—or, rather, a menace to high-ranking dragons.
Hmm, put that way, he sounded more like a Nergigante.
But Xingyan didn't want to become an ecological menace like a Deviljho, the kind of creature that even made passing Aptonoth take a bite out of a Deviljho juvenile. So he still put at least some thought into his hunting.
He had started venturing into the desert.
The Great Sand Sea's terrain could generally be divided into four types. The first consisted of towering stone pillars and cliffs that looked like skyscrapers, as if they'd been forcibly pushed up from deep beneath the earth. Many flying dragons and birds chose to make their homes there.
The second was the desert, which covered at least two-thirds of the region. Horned Dragons ruled here, alongside dragons of all sizes.
The third was the rocky wasteland, not yet fully transformed into desert. It had flat stretches and canyons, along with some drought-resistant plants. Xingyan's nest was located here.
The fourth was the area near the sea and the lower reaches of the Ancient Forest, such as the Flower Field Marshland Area. Life was more diverse there.
No wonder flying dragons had it so good. Some of them could even soar over those steep cliffs, hunting in the resource-rich Ancient Forest by day and returning to the Great Sand Sea to rest at night.
I'm looking at you, Rathalos family!
And there was no need to mention other assorted flying dragons, like Seregios and Zinogre. Those creatures could go wherever they pleased, eating as they went.
The cliffs that trapped hunters and non-flying dragons like Xingyan weren't an obstacle to them at all.
"Despicable! Disgusting! If you've got the guts to hunt in the Ancient Forest, then don't come back!"
—The words of a dragon consumed by envy and resentment.
As he grumbled and snorted, Xingyan carefully searched the desert for prey. The vast desert wasn't home only to Horned Dragons, who were supposed to be herbivores but had exceptionally bad tempers.
If he wasn't careful, it wouldn't just be a Horned Dragon's horn that suddenly burst out of the sand to gore him in the butt. He might also run into a Royal Ludroth's enormous mouth.
That one ate meat.
His luck wasn't great today. Xingyan had spent most of the day wandering without finding any suitable prey. He had spotted a Brute Dragon in the distance, for some reason slamming its head into a giant anthill, but he had no intention of hunting it.
He'd lose too much by fighting that thing.
It was powerful, eager to attack, and incredibly bloodthirsty. What if he got killed?
And even if he survived, what if he came out of the fight gravely wounded and some other dragon swooped in to finish him off?
He might lose more Life Energy fighting it than he'd gain from eating it. After weighing the pros and cons, Xingyan wisely chose to retreat to the rocky wasteland.
With the rainy season approaching, the Great Sand Sea was clearly growing more dangerous. Even a monster like the Brute Dragon had appeared. It had probably chased some prey all the way here.
Brute Dragons had far stronger urges to fight than Glavenus. One large prey animal could keep a Brute Dragon from needing to eat for days, but even after filling their stomachs, they'd keep chasing until they'd killed every prey animal they could catch. They practically killed for the sake of killing.
That was why Brute Dragons had to migrate so often in search of new hunting grounds... Even Glavenus couldn't match their bloodlust. At least Glavenus didn't attack every prey animal in its territory.
Well, even a special breed like Xingyan, with his unusually powerful appetite, wouldn't do that.
"The dragons living in the Great Sand Sea are in for a real treat."
A Brute Dragon's arrival was like a catfish dropped into a fishpond. Xingyan couldn't help but comment on it.
For now, he'd decided to stay away from the desert. He wasn't one to make a losing bargain. He'd wait until the Brute Dragon and the desert's longtime ruler, the Horned Dragon, had fought to the death before going back.
As he'd said, the Great Sand Sea was full of dangers.
"Roar?" (Huh?)
Xingyan stopped abruptly after crossing the canyon. His eyes widened as he stared at a figure running beyond it—a yellow-scaled creature with bright head feathers. Most importantly, it was wearing a crude dark-red vest. Who else could it be but his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother?
Behind the Kulu-Ya-Ku—in the sky, to be precise—a Female Fire Dragon angrily spat out a huge fireball.
BOOM!!!
The exploding fireball brought a wave of searing heat and blasted the rocks behind the fleeing Kulu-Ya-Ku to pieces.
"Gyuji!"
Clearly terrified, the Kulu-Ya-Ku frantically hopped from side to side, dodging the Female Fire Dragon's fiery breath and the claws it swung during its relentless dives.
"Roar, roar!" (This way, you idiot!)
Xingyan panicked. He ran toward his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, roaring as he went.
"Gyuji, gyuji! Gyujijijijiji!"
The familiar voice nearly brought tears to the Kulu-Ya-Ku's eyes. It changed direction at once and charged toward Xingyan, squawking all the while.
Xingyan didn't need to ask why the Female Fire Dragon had suddenly targeted his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother. He spotted the huge egg clutched against its chest at a glance.
Uh, Aptonoth eggs and Female Fire Dragon eggs were among the eggs Kulu-Ya-Ku stole most often. They were regulars on its menu.
But usually, Kulu-Ya-Ku only did that when the Rathalos couple were away from their nest. If the pair caught it in the act, Kulu-Ya-Ku would abandon the egg and take the opportunity to escape. It was extremely rare for one like his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother to keep fleeing with the egg instead of dropping it.
Where had it gotten that courage? Liang Jingru?
After thinking it over briefly, Xingyan figured out the answer.
Him.
It was Glavenus.
Well, that explained it.
Xingyan moved with terrifying speed, reaching his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother in just a few seconds.
With a birdlike sliding tackle, the Kulu-Ya-Ku slipped past Xingyan's leg and behind him. It was a thrilling combo move they'd performed countless times before. After confirming from the corner of his eye that his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother was safely clear of his Sword Tail, Xingyan twisted his hips and swung the now incredibly heavy blade of his tail around—straight at the Female Fire Dragon!
SLASH!!!
Consumed by rage over the stolen egg, the Female Fire Dragon hadn't expected a Glavenus to suddenly appear here. It was still gliding forward in pursuit.
As the Female Fire Dragon seemed poised to fly straight into his tail blade, Xingyan's breathing grew heavier with excitement.
BOOM!!
In the blink of an eye, the Female Fire Dragon suddenly spat a fireball at the wall of the canyon to its right.
Using the blast's wind and force, it somehow propelled itself upward in midair, abruptly lifting its body toward the sky and narrowly evading Xingyan's powerful slash.
Its ability to make and execute a decision in an instant was practically instinctive. This Female Fire Dragon was no ordinary creature.
"Eee-yah!!!"
Blocked from its pursuit and then saved from the surprise attack, the Female Fire Dragon landed on the nearby cliff face and roared furiously. That gave Xingyan a better look at it.
It really was no ordinary Female Fire Dragon.
In the sunlight, the scales along its wingtips and forelegs glimmered faintly with a golden sheen. This was a Female Fire Dragon in the process of transforming into a Gold Fire Dragon.
The signs were slight, but they were there.
Only one in several hundred Female Fire Dragons developed an entirely golden body. Their alloy scales formed from the large quantities of metal they absorbed from their food. They were beautiful, but also exceptionally powerful in battle.
They were smarter than ordinary Female Fire Dragons, attacked more rapidly, and had stronger fire and poison.
Interesting.
Xingyan watched the Female Fire Dragon excitedly. He had completely forgotten how he'd complained about the Brute Dragon moments earlier. Now, he was more Brute Dragon than the Brute Dragon itself.
He was going to hunt this Female Fire Dragon!
A Female Fire Dragon that had begun approaching the next stage of evolution had to contain even more Life Energy. That also meant it could provide Xingyan with more evolutionary information.
In other words, wing information!
The Rathalos family's wings!
Your wings are pretty nice. Let me use them!
My Kulu-Ya-Ku brother really is my lucky charm. It brought me such a precious prey.
Xingyan suppressed his excitement. Glavenus's cold-blooded instincts took over his mind.
The hunt was on.
This was an exceptionally fine meal, but an exceptional meal also meant an exceptionally difficult hunt.
As an information-gathering Glavenus, Xingyan had been studying the Female Fire Dragon's appearance ever since the moment he laid eyes on it, noting every detail that might prove useful in the coming fight.
A Female Fire Dragon that had begun to show signs of becoming a Gold Fire Dragon had lived long enough. That wasn't an empty observation. To survive long enough in the cruel wilderness to have a chance at evolving, it had to have endured countless brutal battles.
No wonder it had instinctively responded in the best possible way when caught by surprise just now. This was a tempered Female Fire Dragon!
The only question was, what star rank was it?
A tempered monster was an enhanced creature that had seen countless battles, an elite that had survived the ruthless, long-term struggle for survival in the wild. Its scales were thicker and its defenses stronger, and its attacks and special abilities were far more powerful than those of an ordinary monster of the same species.
It was like the difference between an ordinary monster and an elite monster in a typical game. They had the same model, but their stats were higher, and they were much harder to beat.
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