Initial Hunt and Sudden Attack

Herbivorous Dragon Species were widespread herbivores found in both the Old World and the New World.

The herbivorous dragons living in the Great Sand Sea had hard, turtle-like shells on their backs. They were therefore also called Carapace Dragons and belonged to the Carapace Herbivore Species.

Though they were both vegetarian dragons, Carapace Dragons ranked nowhere near Horned Dragons in the Great Sand Sea's food chain. They occupied the very bottom.

They sounded like the sort that anything passing by could bully a little, but Xingyan knew that was not actually the case.

At least, for a Young Dragon with no adult dragon to care for it, killing a lone Carapace Dragon from a herd was anything but easy.

Here was a joke: everyone knew Deviljho, right?

These dragons were a plague to both hunters and other dragons alike, and naturally had no parental affection for their offspring. They gave birth, but they did not raise them.

But when Deviljho hatchlings were discovered, forget the normally aggressive large dragons—even passing Aptonoth would kill them without hesitation. And they truly had the ability to do so.

Just look at a Carapace Dragon's equipment. Its back was protected by a sturdy shell that could even withstand a Female Fire Dragon's breath and diving claw attacks. Xingyan had personally seen a Female Fire Dragon come to hunt, only to be left helpless when faced with a group of Carapace Dragons huddled together with their shells facing outward.

In the end, after failing to seize the initiative and finding that even a blast of fire achieved nothing, the Female Fire Dragon could only fly away in frustration.

Carapace Dragons also had exceptionally thick, powerful tails, with spike-covered ends like morning stars. Xingyan did not dare imagine what would happen if a herd of Carapace Dragons surrounded him and greeted him with those things.

He would probably be turned into Glavenus sauce.

Even Herbivore Species could kill dragons!

As a Veteran Hunter and former Plot Enthusiast, Xingyan had long since memorized this ecological information. Now, it had become an important reference for his survival in this familiar yet unfamiliar world.

But it could only serve as a reference.

Craving fresh meat, Xingyan had already been lying in wait in this marsh for an entire day. He had set his sights on a small Carapace Dragon family: four adult Carapace Dragons and two juvenile ones.

As for the large herds of ten or even dozens of Carapace Dragons, Xingyan took detours whenever he saw them. He had no desire to become a lion gored through the belly by a wildebeest horn.

If circumstances allowed, Xingyan wanted to hunt an adult Carapace Dragon. But if they did not, killing a juvenile was nothing shameful.

Getting meat was what mattered most.

This was one of the two areas in the Great Sand Sea least resembling a wasteland. A small river flowed down from above, plunging off a low stone cliff before spreading out into an exceptionally vast marshland—at least, far larger than the area Xingyan remembered from the game, and the terrain did not match either.

That was normal enough. Any large monster coming here to hunt or fight could change the landscape. A few extra pits or a small mound of dirt and rocks were entirely ordinary.

Many aquatic plants grew in this marsh, but even prettier were plants with colors and shapes resembling lavender. Their elegant, cozy purple hues made the protruding rocks on either side feel far less desolate.

Yet this place was especially dangerous.

Water was scarce throughout the Great Sand Sea, which meant that this marsh and the river running through it supplied drinking water to nearly half the dragons in the Great Sand Sea. They could appear here at any moment.

That was not good news for Xingyan. Though he was not a Deviljho hatchling, any large dragon high on the food chain would likely try to kill him if it saw him, driven by instinct and simple intelligence.

After all, one less competitor was one less competitor. They had no desire to watch a potential threat grow stronger.

Splash!

The sudden sound of water being parted came from the distance. Xingyan's spirits rose, and even his thoughts, which had begun to wander during the long wait, snapped into focus.

Looking closely, Xingyan saw a herd of Carapace Dragons wading through the marsh. Four large and two small—they were undoubtedly the targets he had been waiting for.

The sun was about to set. From Xingyan's observations, this small Carapace Dragon family always came to the Flower Field Marshland Area to drink around this time.

Perhaps they had come to recognize that it was safe to drink at this hour. Though they remained alert, the Carapace Dragons still relaxed considerably during the process. During the past two days of observation, Xingyan had even seen behavior that looked like they were playing in the water together.

Especially the two little Carapace Dragons.

Xingyan had already held his breath. He had dug a pit beforehand and buried himself halfway in the marsh, letting the purple flowers and plants conceal him as much as possible, leaving only half his dragon head above the surface to watch.

This was knowledge he had learned while watching Animal World in his previous life.

Glavenus's powerful body allowed him to hold his breath for several minutes without training, and the mud smeared all over him perfectly concealed the scent unique to a high-ranking species—the only problem was that this was somewhat disgraceful for a Glavenus. If other Glavenus saw him, they might refuse to associate with him.

Probably.

But who cared? If it worked, it worked.

The splashing water drew closer and closer. A young Carapace Dragon curiously chased a butterfly fluttering among the flowers, unknowingly wandering some distance away from its parents.

"Raaawr—"

That was the call of an adult Carapace Dragon. It was calling for its child to return to its side quickly, and the little Carapace Dragon received the signal. It stopped watching the butterfly and turned back toward its parents.

This was the moment Xingyan had been waiting for.

Boom!!!

His powerful legs stomped against the marsh floor, and Xingyan, hidden in the mud, launched himself into the air!

Splash!!

The mud and water flung up with him became like a curtain blotting out the sky as they crashed down over the little Carapace Dragon. It screamed in terror, and that became the last sound it would ever make.

Crack.

As a Beast Dragon Species—and a Glavenus, a species nicknamed the "Biting Dragon"—even Xingyan's current bite force easily snapped the little Carapace Dragon's neck.

And then—run!!

The Great Sand Sea was fraught with danger. Fight, search, finish the job, and leave.

Just like Hualaisi, a mature hunter would never greedily linger for even one extra second. After all, the slightest greed could invite death.

Xingyan knew this well, so after biting the young Carapace Dragon to death, he did not even spare the adult Carapace Dragons a glance. He clamped the young Carapace Dragon's corpse in his jaws and bolted madly in the opposite direction. He even deliberately swung his tail around to drag the prey along, preventing himself from tripping over the body while fleeing.

Move, legs! Run!!

A succession of heavy footsteps sent water splashing through the swamp. Yet unlike when Bird Bro stole eggs, after Xingyan had charged more than two hundred meters away, he heard neither hurried footsteps pursuing him nor the enraged roars of Carapace Dragons.

When he finally stopped and looked back, he was surprised to find that the Carapace Dragons had not chased after him. Instead, they wailed as they protected their sole remaining young in the center and fled in panic along the way Xingyan had come.

It was completely different from what Xingyan had initially expected, and none of the preparations he had made ended up being useful.

His first hunt, which he had anticipated and prepared for so long, was far simpler than he had imagined. Perhaps it was because of the planning brought by his former human soul and intellect, or perhaps because of a Glavenus's naturally powerful body. Either way, Xingyan felt a sense of unreality, along with a faint trace of disappointment.

But upon thinking about it carefully, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. After all, a Glavenus was not some bastard like a Deviljho. A Glavenus hatchling was nowhere near dangerous enough for even herbivorous monsters to risk their lives trying to kill.

For the sake of survival and continuation, it was perfectly normal for them to flee with their one remaining hatchling.

"Awuu!"

Biting into the young Carapace Dragon's soft belly, Xingyan swallowed the precious meat with satisfaction, along with its fresh, warm dragon blood. He could feel that his body had finally received what it craved. The sensation was truly intoxicating for a dragon.

He had to eat meat!

Every meal had to have meat!!

He did not even have time to bring the prey back to the shelter he shared with Bird Bro. Carrying a still-bleeding prey across the Great Sand Sea was practically an open provocation, so Xingyan impatiently found a dry stone platform and began eating on the spot.

He planned to eat quickly, then run as soon as he was done.

It tasted delicious, much like the roast suckling pig he remembered eating, except it was not as crispy. But honestly, Xingyan did not know how different his current sensations were from those in his previous life. After all, his senses were no longer human senses, but senses unique to a Glavenus.

No joke—according to the information Xingyan remembered reading, a Glavenus's Stomach Sack was covered by a Heat-Resistant Crystal Layer, capable of withstanding temperatures exceeding fifteen hundred degrees Celsius. Human stomachs could not do that.

On top of that, a Glavenus's sense of smell and taste differed from a human's. So if the things he found delicious now were given to his human self, he might very well vomit on the spot.

To be fair, judging from his experience of digging up dirt and eating ore after hatching, Xingyan thought those minerals tasted quite good too—crisp, delicious, and carrying a unique fragrance.

But appreciating the taste of minerals with human taste buds... there was no need to say more.

Some things were like sliding downhill—the speed at which one sank to the bottom was simply unbelievable.

After living in this world in a Glavenus body for over a month, Xingyan occasionally realized with surprise that rather than thinking from a human perspective, he had become more accustomed to thinking from the perspective of a dragon.

Of course, that did not mean Xingyan had lost his human wisdom or his sanity. It was instead a shift in identity and perception—those insights would now only be used to make his life as a dragon better.

Whether it was hunting, shelter, or even instincts and physiological preferences unique to dragons, many things that Xingyan could not endure as a human were no longer much of an issue to him now.

Survive first. Everything else could wait.

The soul and mind were ultimately built upon the physical body of reality, and they were deeply influenced by it as well.

As he swallowed the warm, nutritious organs into his belly, Xingyan was already immersed in the joy of enjoying meat for the first time—other Glavenus hatchlings could enjoy such joy from their mothers the moment they were born, yet he had delayed it for so long and even had to hunt the prey himself.

It was enough to make a dragon weep.

To put it bluntly, his body craved these things.

Killing instinct!

Bzz~

All of a sudden, Xingyan felt as though his bones had faintly vibrated—a mysterious, indescribable sensation. And it was not an illusion. His pair of red eyes turned toward the water beside the stone. Near the stems of the aquatic plants, rings upon rings of ripples were rapidly spreading and intertwining.

Something was wrong!

There was no need to think, no need to verify. The instant his instincts sensed something was wrong, Xingyan chose to trust them without question!

He did not even care about the unfinished feast. Kicking off with both legs, Xingyan leaped straight off the huge rock he had temporarily settled upon—BOOM!!!

Before he even landed, Xingyan twisted around to look back the instant he jumped away. Then, amid a deafening crash, he saw the massive rock large enough for him to stand on while eating get violently launched upward from below!!

Mud splashing in every direction even caught up to Xingyan in midair, bursting across his shell in radiating streaks.

But compared to the monster that had suddenly burst out from beneath the swamp, that little matter of cleanliness was nothing at all.

Mudfish Dragon.

The knowledge in his mind immediately allowed Xingyan to identify the dragon that had ruined his meal.

Honestly, from the ant mounds of varying sizes scattered throughout the Great Sand Sea and some distinctive dragons, Xingyan had already figured out what world and place this was and prepared himself mentally. After all, if he wanted to keep growing stronger, he would eventually encounter all sorts of monsters that had appeared in the game from his previous life.

That even included dragons that had never appeared in the games but might exist in this region of the real world. After all, the real world was not a game. How could the variety of species living within a true ecosystem possibly be fully represented by one game?

Not to mention Capcom's obsession with drip-feeding content, their production output so slow they could barely squeeze out a fart.

The strange phenomenon known as the Elder Dragon Crossing attracted more than just hunters. It was not only Elder Dragons that traveled from the Old World to the New World either—some bold Old World dragons also followed behind the Elder Dragons and made their way to the New World.

Otherwise, why would Xingyan say that life in the Great Sand Sea was a little too flourishing?