The Craving for Evolution and the Dragon Slayer's Great Effort!

Doubt, the inevitable sprouting of doubt—can I really go head-to-head with this ferocious monster?

If all dragons are monsters in the eyes of a Hunter, then in the eyes of ordinary dragons, Elder Dragons are the true monsters.

But without fighting, I can't evolve towards becoming an Elder Dragon... I can't just go find a Gold Rathian or a Deviljho, can I?

Not only would it be difficult, but even if I won, the benefits wouldn't be much. Risking my life to fight, only to find that even after eating, I still can't achieve the bloodline ascension from an ordinary dragon to an Elder Dragon.

Aside from the extra layer of Air Sac Carapace, Xingyan's current body, in terms of size and strength alone, is comparable to a normal adult Dragon Slayer.

And recently, he's noticed that no matter how much he eats, his body hasn't grown as rapidly as it did for the past six months, as if he's reached his physical limit.

He'd been worrying about this for a long time, and now, after witnessing the world-destroying power of the Steel Dragon, Xingyan couldn't help but feel a bit of hesitation... Should I just run?

Accumulate more Life Energy, hunt some ordinary dragons... But will killing ten thousand ordinary dragons allow me to advance and become an Elder Dragon?

What kind of leveling game is this?

Xingyan never thought he'd one day face a problem similar to Accelerator's, except he wasn't killing some Mikoto Misaka, nor would he be as conflicted as Accelerator.

Even with his eyes closed, Xingyan didn't believe that eating ten thousand ordinary dragons would turn him into an Elder Dragon. The gap between ordinary dragons and Elder Dragons is a chasm; quantity alone can't bridge it.

It's the gap in the techniques for controlling Life Energy, the gap in the special abilities of the dragon species themselves.

Ultimately, I still have to challenge Elder Dragons. Only by challenging them can I know exactly where I fall short, how to leverage my strengths and avoid my weaknesses to find a way to defeat them, and then hunt them. Otherwise, I can only fantasize in my mind, and one-sided fantasies are the most useless.

Take this moment, for example. Xingyan feels like he's been completely played by these two Steel Dragons—I've been screwed over!! (Sun Ge's voice)

And screwed over by the game's information too!!

Before, just watching these two dragons fight was a spectacle of immense power, shaking the heavens and earth. They fought from sea to land, through storms and gales, twisting and grappling fiercely with each other.

It's this grappling!!

The physical combat ability of Elder Dragons isn't much different from what's shown in the game, except that after becoming real, they aren't limited to a few attack animations and are more flexible and adaptable.

These two Steel Dragons were completely locked in a struggle relying purely on muscle, very primal and crude, with no technical skill or anything supernatural involved. This was why Xingyan, after his initial observation, felt he could jump in and try a few hits.

He thought this disaster of a storm was the result of the two Steel Dragons exerting their power, similar to the presentation in the game, but who knew they weren't even serious before?!

It wasn't until that Rusty Steel Dragon began to fully unleash its special abilities as an Elder Dragon, destroying everything in sight with a Black Storm, that Xingyan realized he was wrong... and terribly wrong.

Sigh, can we make peace?

Xingyan feels like his [Large Dragon's Sweat] is about to burst. Who could have imagined that the fierce battle between the two Steel Dragons earlier wasn't them going all out?!

You two are pure actors!

But if I were to turn and flee right now... it really feels like a joke.

Setting aside whether fleeing after cutting the Rusty Steel Dragon would further enrage the enemy, Xingyan at this moment must first lower his center of gravity, crouching down to prevent himself from being blown over by this violent wind.

And trying to find a direction to escape in this storm... I might be caught and kicked to death before I could even escape.

Facing the black storm directly, unable to even pinpoint the Rusty Steel Dragon's location, a jumble of chaotic thoughts flooded Xingyan's mind. This is the confusion, emptiness, and helplessness that anyone who attempts to fight against natural disasters experiences.

But then, Xingyan cast such confusion aside.

There's an old saying: thought breeds doubt, doubt breeds heresy, heresy breeds betrayal.

He has no intention of fleeing in a sorry state, nor does he plan to return to his comfort zone, spending his days bullying ordinary dragons in the Great Sand Sea.

While there are many Elder Dragons in the New World, they aren't that common. If I run away from encountering an Elder Dragon this time, what about next time?

Every Elder Dragon has its unique skills. How many ordinary dragons must I eat to gain special abilities comparable to an Elder Dragon?

What's special about them? Can I eat them? Will I turn into a Kushala Daora?

That would be so good, like evolving into a pile of dung by eating too much garbage data.

With that thought, Xingyan's mood actually calmed down.

At this moment, he inexplicably thought of the first living creature he personally hunted in this world, that young Carapace Dragon.

Its tender and mournful whimpers are forever etched deep in Xingyan's mind. He thought he had forgotten, and forgotten the complex feelings at the time... Will there come a day when I am hunted by other dragons like this, only able to let out helpless cries?

An unexpected calm.

Xingyan doesn't regret his choice today. His growth rate has slowed, so he must find new points of growth, repeating this cycle endlessly.

It is desire, it is longing, and more than anything, it is obsession.

Since choosing to embark on this path destined for bloodshed, rather than becoming king among ordinary dragons only to be kicked to death by truly powerful dragons, Xingyan would rather die trying to ascend to a higher ecological niche.

Slightly narrowing his scarlet eyes, he tried his best to find the Rusty Steel Dragon's figure within the vision-obscuring storm. Xingyan had already thought of a way to break the stalemate.

Don't underestimate Xingyan's information network. As the embodiment of the natural phenomenon of wind, the Steel Dragon's ability to manipulate wind consists of two parts. The first is a special organ within the Steel Dragon's body, capable of generating wind from nothing and causing it to swirl around its body or be expelled from its mouth as a breath attack.

The second is the dragon horn growing from the Steel Dragon's head. The Steel Dragon can control external winds through its dragon horn, manipulating wind pressure, power, or direction. Creating a great storm in nature is precisely the result of controlling it with its dragon horn.

Therefore, if he wants to stop these multiple, chaotic tornadoes, Xingyan must shatter the Rusty Steel Dragon's dragon horn.

If all else fails, I'll have to trade damage for damage. No matter what, I have to destroy the dragon horn, otherwise, there's no chance of winning at all.

No, to be precise, in this dark and chaotic storm, there isn't even an opportunity to escape.

Immersed in the world-destroying tempest, Xingyan's vision was filled with darkness. The tornadoes obscured his sight and buffeted him, making him sway. If it weren't for the weight of his Dragon Slayer form holding him down, he would have long been blown into the sky.

It's different, it feels completely different.

When the Rusty Steel Dragon wasn't using its Elder Dragon power, the Steel Dragon's signature ability as a natural disaster, Xingyan felt he could still go a few rounds with it—at least he could get a couple of slashes in. Regardless of whether they dealt effective damage, he could at least leave a mark.

It would at least be a back-and-forth exchange, as long as he was careful not to get hit by the Wind Pressure Cannon it spat out. Otherwise, even if he didn't get torn apart, he'd at least suffer internal bleeding.

But when the Rusty Steel Dragon got angry and began to show its side as a natural disaster of nature with its Elder Dragon power, Xingyan was completely overwhelmed.

Forget finding an opportunity to weave in a couple of slashes; just not being blown over or flung away by the fierce gale was a victory. Especially those two black tornadoes that seemed to cover the entire world, Xingyan had no desire to go explore them. He highly doubted his carapace could withstand the scraping of wind blades, spinning at an unknown rate per second.

He couldn't win; they weren't even in the same league. When an Elder Dragon got serious, ordinary dragons could only retreat.

At this moment, Xingyan understood this point very clearly. He was already mentally retracing the route to the nearest underground cave entrance, fighting as he retreated.

The invisible wind had a clear trajectory. Suddenly, Xingyan saw the black wall of wind on his left twist—Parry Slash!!

His strong legs forcibly dragged his heavy body to the right. The next second, the Rusty Steel Dragon roared through that tornado, smashing down towards Xingyan's original position with an awe-inspiring, sky-obscuring presence!!

Its weight was also a weapon for the Steel Dragon. With the Steel Dragon's overwhelming, super-strong weight, Xingyan had no doubt that if he were pinned by this Steel Dragon, he would never be able to get up again, just like a herbivore pinned by a Female Fire Dragon, only able to stretch its neck and wait for death.

But things developed beyond the Rusty Steel Dragon's expectations. It thought this Dragon Slayer would nimbly dodge as before and then counter-attack with its tail, but it didn't expect Xingyan wouldn't use a tail attack this time. Instead, the entire dragon leaped over!

A sudden opportunity?!

Xingyan leaped directly onto the Rusty Steel Dragon's body. Yes, a Dragon Slayer's weight couldn't compare to a Steel Dragon's, but it was still considerable, causing the Rusty Steel Dragon to sink a few inches.

"Roar!!"

Struggling, a fierce struggle. The Rusty Steel Dragon desperately twisted its body, trying to shake off the Dragon Slayer riding on it, but Xingyan held on tightly.

The Rusty Steel Dragon's basic quadrupedal, winged Elder Dragon skeleton was a great help at this moment. Compared to wyverns or other oddly shaped dragons, the Rusty Steel Dragon's neck was slender and its head small—this meant that when Xingyan leaped onto its back, his pair of short foreclaws could perfectly grasp the Rusty Steel Dragon's neck.

The black storm swirling around the Rusty Steel Dragon's body was like a series of sharp knives scraping Xingyan's carapace at high speed. He could even hear harsh metallic friction sounds, as well as a series of crackling noises like firecrackers.

That was Xingyan's Air Sac Carapace exploding. Facing the Rusty Steel Dragon's protective storm, these air sac carapaces, which were designed from the beginning of evolution to reduce buoyancy and explosively eject fragments in a specific direction, with no defensive capabilities, were torn apart in the shortest possible time.

The exploding carapace fragments and ore debris scattered everywhere. Fragments capable of piercing a herbivore's body could only produce crisp clattering impacts on the Rusty Steel Dragon's surface.

Instead, it was more like a vigorous scrubber, this dense storm of metal fragments actually rubbed off a lot of the rust and dross from the surface of the Rusty Steel Dragon's wings and back.

"Roar!!!"

Master, scrub harder!

Uh, was it an illusion? Xingyan seemed to hear that sentiment in the Rusty Steel Dragon's roar... This made him even angrier, causing a stream of scorching steam to erupt from the heat dissipation shells on his back, like some kind of steam train.

Yes, some unconventional researchers from the Dragonic Chronicle claimed that the Rusty Steel Dragon was fond of attacking human settlements because they wanted humans to scrape off the rusted old skin from their bodies, thereby easing the pain of molting. They would even actively appear near the Dragonator, using it to break open their rusted outer skin.

But this was just speculation, never officially confirmed.

Furthermore, using the same weapons as a Hunter? Even a Hunter's Great Sword was no different from a paring knife to a Steel Dragon, let alone dual blades for back-scrubbing—but I'm a Dragon Slayer!

My blade might not be poisoned, but it's definitely not a small knife. You think it's enjoyable??!

Perhaps realizing its roar was a bit off, especially with another Steel Dragon watching from the cliff not far away, the Rusty Steel Dragon's struggles intensified—or rather, it hadn't stopped since earlier.

But Xingyan held on with all his might, truly, incredibly tightly. At this moment, he didn't look like a wyvern but more like a serpent dragon. His foreclaws hugged the Rusty Steel Dragon's neck, and his two powerful hind legs rode on the Rusty Steel Dragon's back.

These hind legs were somewhat out of place. After all, the Rusty Steel Dragon's wing membranes extended from the base of its neck all the way to its tail, like a giant cloak, a metallic cloak that couldn't be pierced, making it impossible to step on the wing membrane and ride on the Rusty Steel Dragon's waist.

But it didn't matter; where there's a will, there's a way. Xingyan's brain was far more agile than any ordinary Dragon Slayer's. Since his legs couldn't find purchase, he simply pressed his long sword tail tightly against the Rusty Steel Dragon's tail, entwining them fiercely.

Otherwise, why would he be compared to a serpent dragon? Xingyan thus bound himself tightly to the Rusty Steel Dragon, locking himself in place with his foreclaws and sword tail. This way, even though his body swayed back and forth, the Rusty Steel Dragon couldn't shake him off.

It was somewhat ironic that he had just mocked the crude close-quarters combat between two Steel Dragons in his mind, but now Xingyan himself had joined this crude brawl.

Just like that tempered Female Fire Dragon, in the Rusty Steel Dragon's long life, it had seen countless Dragon Slayers and had been challenged by a few bold ones. Therefore, it had ample understanding of such dragons—and then it fell into a trap by using that understanding to deal with Xingyan.